Summary
Fantastic, a video game developer, has responded to claims of “ripping-off” with the statement that the delay of their game, “The Day Before,” was pre-planned and not due to any wrongdoing. The game was recently delisted from Steam, leading to speculation of a connection to the delay, but Fantastic denies this and says the two events are unrelated.
Fantastic is facing accusations of plagiarism, with players and industry insiders alleging that their game “The Day Before” is a copy of the popular open-world survival game “DayZ.” Fantastic has strongly denied these claims, stating that the delay of the game’s release was pre-planned and was not related to the recent delisting of the game from Steam. The delisting was reportedly due to a licensing issue and not because of any issue with the game’s content. Fantastic has stated that they are working to resolve the issue and get the game relisted on Steam as soon as possible. Despite these setbacks, Fntastic remains confident in the quality of its game and is looking forward to launching “The Day Before” shortly.
Open-world survival MMOs
The Day Earlier than, certainly one of Steam’s most-wish-listed open-world survival MMOs, acquired and pulled from Valve’s storefront earlier this week. The sport’s disappearance from the store has been attributed to a trademark dispute, which developer Fantastic claims have precipitated Steam to dam their recreation web page, resulting in yet one more delay in launch. Now, amidst web chatter questioning whether or not the sport even exists, the developer has come out and claimed it deliberately delayed the sport even earlier than the trademark dispute surfaced. In an announcement to IGN, Fntastic has additionally shut down the hypothesis over the sport being a ‘rip-off’.
Twice-delayed recreation
“We deliberate to manoeuvre the sport’s launch earlier than and plan to announce it with [publisher] Mytona in a 10-minute gameplay video,” the developer informed IGN. “And you then all know what occurred. So to be on the protected aspect, to make sure there aren’t any extra transfers, we, together with the writer, selected November 10. That may be a protected date, given the trademark dispute.” The now twice-delayed recreation will utilise the extra time to make sure a sophisticated and “content-filled” expertise by launch day. As for the gameplay video, Fantastic intends to seek the advice of its legal professionals first earlier than publishing it.
Regardless of the allegations being hurled towards them, The Day Earlier than builders appear optimistic concerning the finished result — even dismissing claims that they’re working a rip-off of some variety. “We did not take a penny from folks: no crowdfunding, no pre-orders, no donations. The sport is funded by Mytona, one of many largest cell publishers on this planet, who checked the sport’s construct at each milestone per our contract,” their assertion reads.
The Day Earlier was delisted from Steam earlier this week and it was revealed that the studio by no means bothered claiming a trademark for its title, earlier than asserting the title in January 2021. As per Fntastic, this allowed a non-public particular person to fill out software earlier than them, and register the trademark for the title “The Day Earlier than,” within the US. To resolve this situation, the developer has now determined to postpone the sport’s launch to November 10.
“Beforehand, we weren’t conscious of the existence of claims,” an open letter from developer Fntastic and writer Mytona learn after the sport vanished from Steam. “We discovered this solely on January 19, 2023, after we acquired a criticism from him and a request to contact him.” The studio was planning to drop a “prolonged gameplay video” later this month — simply two months earlier than launch — however has determined to carry off on that as properly. Understandably, this baffling state of affairs has raised suspicion on the web, with the vocal majority suggesting that the sport may not have been in growth in any respect. Even The Day Earlier’s neighbourhood Discord moderators are doubtful about whether or not the sport is actual or not. To their credit score, little or no is thought about The Day Before, past its flashy announcement trailer, adopted by an orchestrated gameplay footage, promising a supreme zombie-killing affair.
IGN final 12 months
Whereas The Day Earlier was initially anticipated to launch in 2022, it was then delayed to March 1 this 12 months, of a change within the growth engine. As per a statement given to IGN final 12 months, Fantastic claimed that it was switching to Epic Games’ new Unreal Engine 5 know-how, which might solely “make the gameplay of The Day Earlier than much more unbelievable.” This new delay and accusations have precipitated Fantastic to open up, insisting that plans to manoeuvre the discharge date additional had been in movement earlier than the trademark situation mounted up — pushing the launch date by eight months.
Set in a desolate, post-pandemic US, The Day Earlier has gamers survive hordes of flesh-eating zombies by scavenging for assets, crafting tools, and driving around in automobiles. Consider it like The Division meets The Last of Us — no less than going by the sparse data we’ve of the sport. Fantastic beforehand created the multiplayer hide-and-seek recreation Propnight — a 4v1 affair, wherein a killer tracks down survivors within the eerie evening.