The Day Before has been delayed again. The statement will not be a surprise to gamers who are following the progress of the post apocalyptic survival MMO, which has seen delays before. At the time of writing, the game is no longer listed on Steam.
Developer Fntastic has announced that the upcoming online survival game has been delayed just weeks before its scheduled release date. The studio announced on Twitter that the game has received a trademark claim for the title “The Day Before and will be delayed by nine months.
According to the announcement, “Steam blocked our game page at the request of a private individual, because of the name The Day Before.” The studio claims that the trademark for the title was available when the game was announced in 2021.
— Fntastic (@FntasticHQ) January 25, 2023
“After the announcement of the game, the above-mentioned individual filled out an application before us to register the game trademark The Day Before in the United States,” Fntastic said. The developer claims that it was not aware that the title has been trademarked and only learned of the claim on January 19, 2023.
“Now we find out all the circumstances of the incident and we will definitely solve everything. We previously planned to post a lengthy gameplay video later this month, but we’ll have to sort this issue out first. We will post a video asap,” the studio adds.
Fntastic said that it has “made the difficult decision to postpone the launch to November 10, 2023.” The studio assures fans of the game that they are working to “ensure we release the best possible game. Our 100 percent focus remains on the game itself and how to deliver you the best game possible.”
Many fans are confused by the studio’s statements, as a trademark strike should not delay a game by that long. Some are speculating that Fntastic is using the issue to give the developers extra time to work on the game which would have been delayed even without the trademark issue.
The use of the phrase “the best game possible” is often associated with devs needing time to fix gameplay mechanics or bugs, and is not related to trademark filings. Delaying games to polish them has become a trend in the industry, so skirting the issue seems odd.
The Day Before was the most wishlisted game on Steam for a while, indicating the hype level. The zombie survival MMO has now been removed from Valve’s storefront as a result of the trademark infringement and perhaps as the game is also delayed by a fairly long time.
The Steam links on Fntastic’s Youtube videos now redirect to the storefront’s home page, and searching for the title will only show other games. Being delisted from Steam is definitely a hit, and the developers will be keen on getting it back up ASAP.
Fntastic recently released a new trailer for The Day Before as part of the Nvidia DLSS 3 showcase at CES. The video highlights the game’s compatibility with Nvidia’s latest iteration of its AI supersampling technology.
The Day Before might release on November 10, but this definitely seems like a developing story – who knows, maybe this will result in a name change for the title?
