The developers behind The Day Before, Fntastic have announced that it is cancelling its failing Kickstarter and announced a new game. Their recent Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a new game called Escape Factory failed miserably, raising only 15.73% of the $20,000 target. Here are more details.
Fntastic Pauses Development for Escape Factory Indefinitely and Gets onto a New Game
The team behind Fantastic has announced that the game’s funding campaign was operated under Kickstarter’s ‘all-or-nothing’ model. According to the funding model, if the project did not reach its targeted goal, no funds would be collected from the backers. Therefore, the investors will get their money back.
Despite their struggles, the studio announced a new game in developmentโItems, an “action-horror prop hunt” title. This new game is similar in concept to Propnight, one of Fntastic’s previous titles, which had garnered positive feedback before the developers lost the rights to it. In an effort to meet community demand, Items aims to deliver the same kind of thrilling, multiplayer experience, but this time with a more focused vision from the studio.
Escape Factory Images
While no demo or trailer for Items has been released yet, Fntastic remains optimistic. They have hinted that a Kickstarter campaign might be launched once a playable demo is ready. The company is also looking into other fundraising options, such as releasing mobile games to generate revenue for Items. It is also assured that the money generated from these mobile releases would go directly towards the game development.
— Fntastic (@FntasticHQ) October 23, 2024
This strategy shows that Fntastic intends to continue operating independently and relying mostly on community support despite having lost a great deal of trust following the debacle surrounding The Day Before. Once a highly anticipated survival MMO, The Day Before saw its reputation crumble after a series of delays, allegations of asset theft, and controversies regarding the use of unpaid workers. Upon its eventual release in December 2023, the game was greeted with severe criticism and eventually fell short of user expectations, garnering infamously negative reviews overall.
The Day Before Images
Given these difficulties, it appears that Fntastic will have a difficult time reestablishing community confidence. In previous marketing campaigns, they were accused of being dishonest and even plagiarizing, which led to negative parallels to popular games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077. Fntastic maintains its fortitude in the face of these attacks, stating that they are committed to making its vision a reality.
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