The Day Before, the latest open-world zombie shooter to hit the market, has struggled to launch this year and struggled even more when it was finally available to play. Now, the proverbial nail has finally hit the coffin. The game, which is ironically about shooting the undying, has seen its player count fall down to 0 on PC.
SteamDB reveals that none are playing The Day Before. It’s a far cry from its all-time peak of 38,104 17 days ago. This is shortly after Fntastic confirmed that it’s closing the servers soon.
Players have been drifting away from The Day Before in droves since it came out. It was initially one of the most highly anticipated games on Steam, with Fntastic promising players that it isn’t a scam. Unfortunately, it turned out to be what many feared. It was far from what was advertised, with both critics and audiences calling it one of the worst games ever. This is a new low for the gaming industry that recently saw the releases of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum and Skull Island: Rise of Kong.
The Day Before’s release date didn’t help either. It opened its Early Access doors just as the world was reeling from the early release of the official GTA 6 trailer with The Game Awards serving as the backdrop. So, while The Day Before attracted its fair share of players, most weren’t in a giving mood. If anything, some were on the hunt for the next big game, inspired by the trailers released at the aforementioned event. It didn’t take long for gamers to catch onto The Day Before, calling it out immediately as soon as it became available to play.
The worst part about The Day Before’s demise is it’s official. There’s no promise of more content or a studio supporting it, like with Redfall. Instead, Fntastic has effectively closed up shop, presumably hoping to gather as much funds as possible before Valve takes everything from them and gives the money back to the affected players.
The Day Before underscores the importance of living up to your word. In an ever-critical industry, The Day Before was initially pitched as a zombie MMO only to turn out to be an extraction-style shooter with little to no zombies around.
With its player count bottoming out this soon and without a dedicated playerbase, The Day Before will likely find no buyers once the servers have shutdown.
But, it’s not all bad news on Steam. The platform’s Winter Sale makes two of the best years to come out in recent memory available at a discount: Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3.
