After the Fiasco of The Day Before, Fntastic’s New Game Fails on Kickstarter; Development Canceled as They Announce a Third Project

The Day Before was promoted as one of the most ambitious MMOs in recent history. In the end, it turned out to be a massive failure that vanished within days. Its developer studio shut down soon after, only to resurface recently, threatening to launch a new project. Unsurprisingly, the community didn’t respond to the call.

The post-apocalyptic game received very negative reviews when it debuted in December 2023, with reports indicating that more than 90,000 disappointed players refunded the game. Following its poor reception, the project was pulled from sale, and its servers were shut down shortly after.

Although Fntastic confirmed that it would close and cease operations after the failure of The Day Before, in September 2024, they announced their return, promising to be more transparent with players. Additionally, they revealed a new project and asked the community for support to fund it.

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Escape Factory Fails on Kickstarter, So Fntastic Cancels It and Announces a New Game

The game in question was Escape Factory, a multiplayer physics-based title. Along with the announcement, the studio launched a Kickstarter campaign seeking $20,000 SGD (about $15,116 USD). As expected, players were skeptical and refused to back the initiative. In the end, only around $3,000 SGD was raised.

In a statement, Fntastic acknowledged that the cooperative game failed to attract players' attention. However, instead of bowing out gracefully, they confirmed plans for a new project: ITEMS, a multiplayer game in the “Prop Hunt” genre.

“That’s exactly what many of you were hoping for! Once we have a fully playable demo, we can launch a new Kickstarter campaign or explore other options for release. It’s important to us that players get a chance to try the game in advance,” the company said.

Fntastic claims that ITEMS will require a considerable amount of resources, so they plan to release games for mobile devices to generate revenue and support its funding. They refrained from revealing more details about these side projects but assured that all profits would go toward development.

The company already has experience with the Prop Hunt genre. Before angering the community with The Day Before, they released Propnight in 2021, a multiplayer experience that received mixed reviews and shut down its servers in early 2024.

But tell us, do you think the third time's the charm? Do you believe the studio deserves a second chance? Let us know in the comments.

Follow this link to read more news about Fntastic and their upcoming projects.

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