When Fntastic’s survival shooter The Day Before officially shut down its servers, we had assumed it would be the last headline to come out of the mismanaged game. However, the studio had one last Hail Mary of insanity to throw at the world, as it put out a defensive statement that tries to claim that it was the target of a hate and misinformation campaign.
The statement, which was posted and deleted from Twitter twice then later shared on its official site, tries to argue that “certain bloggers made huge money by creating false content […] exploiting the lack of information about the game’s development” in what it terms as a hate campaign:
“Remember the experiment where you’re asked to count pink objects in a room and then recall the blue ones? You won’t remember any. It’s all about focus. The negative bias instilled by certain bloggers making money on hate affected perceptions of the game.”
It also tries to hit back against claims that the shooter downgraded from its originally stated scope and gameplay trailers, saying that the studio “implemented everything shown in the trailers, from home improvements to a detailed world to off-road vehicles,” while admitting that a few “minor” features like parkour movement were removed initially but would be added later.
The statement also argues that it didn’t deceive players because Fntastic didn’t take crowdfunds or pre-orders (even going so far as saying it forcibly issued refunds to those who did not request them); states that it had a great relationship with publisher Mytona because its other game Propnight, which was delisted from Steam, “sold almost a million copies;” and rebuts what it calls “misinformation” from “supposedly anonymous sources” about its development, saying that its workforce was treated well and even helped some employees to “buy equipment and with their mortgages.”
It further makes bizarre claims about the shooter’s popularity by spinning black market key sales as a positive thing, claiming that it got letters from people who were “deceived” by bloggers and asked for access, and saying that Dr. Disrespect enjoyed his time in the game.
Finally, the statement closes with thanks to supporters and an invitation to follow the company’s social channels to see what it will be doing next. You can read the full statement below by clicking on the image.
