The Day Before developer offers refunds and tells critics “sh*t happens”

Fntastic, the developers behind The Day Before has offered all users a refund, but have remained defiant on social media in the face of criticism.

Only hours after the critically panned zombie survival multiplayer game The Day Before was removed from Steam, and Fntastic announced its closure, the devs have offered refunds to anyone who wants one.

Those who purchased the game via Steam will be able to claim a refund, regardless of how much playtime they’ve invested into The Day Before. In the week since it launched the game has become notorious and this has led to a storm of player outrage on social media.

In a post from the developer’s official X (Twitter) account, the team stated they are working with Steam to ensure that the refunds go through and confirmed that Fntastic themselves “received $0 and will receive nothing from The Day Before sales.”

When attacked by another user for the state of the game when it was released, the official Fntastic account responded by saying: “This was our first big experience. Shit happens.”

This was our first big experience. Shit happens.

— Fntastic (@FntasticHQ) December 12, 2023

The Day Before was intended to be a survival MMO and third-person shooter set in a post-apocalyptic city during a zombie outbreak. The game was announced in 2021 and launched on December 7, 2023, after the Game Awards.

Six days later, after becoming a critical and commercial failure, and was removed from Steam with the company also closing down. At the time of writing, the game’s servers are still live, but we don’t imagine this will be for long without any active maintenance from a developer team.