Fntastic studio, which has been involved in one of the biggest scandals recently by misleading players, is gearing up for a comeback. After creating significant disappointment with their game The Day Before and shutting down just four days after its launch, the studio is now returning under the name Fntastic 2.0 and is asking players for a second chance.
The Day Before Frustrated Players in Just 4 Days
The Day Before transformed from Steam’s most anticipated MMO into an ordinary survival game, ultimately leading to the studio’s downfall. The game struggled with issues like a nine-month delay, trademark registration problems, a disastrous launch, and failure to meet player expectations, resulting in it being removed from Steam just four days after its release.
Fntastic announced its plan to regain players’ trust through a PDF published on its official website. Among the core principles outlined in the manifesto are honesty, transparency, and professionalism. The studio promises open communication, regular developer updates, and free open beta processes.
However, it has also become evident that the studio still lacks a clear stance on its controversial past practice of using voluntary workers. The phrase “Some team members are helping on a goodwill basis” in their new plans has raised eyebrows given the past criticisms.
Fntastic’s new project, titled Escape Factory, will be supported through crowdfunding and is a physics-based co-op game. This game appears to have a lower budget compared to The Day Before, indicating that the studio insists on setting overly ambitious goals with a modest indie budget.
The studio explicitly states that Escape Factory will shut down again if its Kickstarter campaign fails. However, if the campaign succeeds, they are also considering developing a new game that would serve as a sequel to Propnight, released in 2021.
Lastly, a demo of the game has been released on Steam. Whether it will satisfy players remains to be seen, but if you’d like to try the demo, you can click here.
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