In the “Division with Zombies” on Steam there was a lot of will, little skill

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The survival game “The Day Before” was once the most anticipated game on Steam and was seen as “The Division with zombies”. The result was a game that became more and more disappointing the closer it got to release. In the end, The Day Before came to Steam after postponements, but was so disappointing that it closed after a few days and dragged the studio into the abyss.

What kind of insider report is this? GameStar magazine and the GameTwo team got together, spoke to around 20 people involved at the developer and publisher, and then shared their insights:

You can read the entire GameStar Plus report in all its details here.

The team stopped their work specifically for the great trailers

Why did the game look so extremely good? What you ask yourself after watching “The Day Before”: Why did the game look so damn good in the first trailer?

Because that was the only way the hype could arise in 2021, which helped The Day Before reach the height from which it crashed down in the end.

GameStar says: The team placed a particular focus on the trailers. One developer is quoted:

“In order to produce the trailers, the work of all departments was interrupted. It was common to create a feature for a trailer and then forget about it for several months.”

Everything you need to know about the new MMO The Day Before – in 2 minutes

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The Day Before was much smaller, pimped up for trailers for the MMO

Where did the idea that it had to be an MMO come from? The Day Before was actually planned as a much simpler project, the graphics of which were more reminiscent of Fortnite, with simple cities and a reduced idea.

They were originally based on their own game “The Wild Eight” and wanted to further develop this rather simple one.

After about a year, this modest idea was scrapped and now they wanted to bring “the revolution in the survival genre”.

For trailers, the game was pimped out with skyscrapers and super-detailed “The Division” levels. Suddenly the studio from the coldest province in Russia wanted to take on the big fish:

From a small snowy landscape for a handful of players, it became a huge MMO in a metropolis.

Employees thought they were really creating a masterpiece

Was The Day Before a scam? No, not really. If GameStar’s report is anything to go by, they really wanted to implement this extremely ambitious vision, but had completely miscalculated and overreached themselves.

What was promised to future players in the trailers could by no means be achieved with the team. There was a lack of knowledge and competence at all ends:

  • For many employees, the job on The Day Before was their first job ever
  • The bosses also apparently had no idea what they were doing, led with an iron hand, imposed fines and created terrible working conditions, as people report
  • Many young people threw themselves into the project because there are hardly any opportunities to work in the gaming industry in Russia – so there were a lot of highly motivated developers, but hardly any experience or competence in the team

    • Many employees were so young and inexperienced that they had no idea how hopeless their situation was to manage such an extremely ambitious project.

    GameStar quotes a developer:

    “I believed I was working on a project that would be a huge success.”

    The closer the release gets, the worse the working conditions become

    How did it end then? During development, public sentiment towards the project deteriorated noticeably. Release dates were canceled and there was suddenly trouble over the name.

    The bosses became increasingly erratic in their decisions: You played the new Spider-Man and then ordered your own level designers to rework the almost finished city so that it looked more like Peter Parker’s hometown.

    According to GameStar, the team worked themselves through countless hours of work, but when the day of truth came and the game was released, it completely flopped.

    Ultimately, with the release date approaching, everything was done in such a hurry that in order to keep the release, the game had to be slimmed down and quality assurance had been reduced to a minimum. There was no longer any talk of MMO.

    The end came just 4 days after the release

    Ultimately, the team even developed a patch before the bosses spontaneously announced the end of Fntastic and The Day Before – just 4 days after release.

    The publisher has a vote on whether they want to continue the game themselves, but almost all employees are against it.

    Dangerous mix of expectation and reality

    The impression remains: The accusations of “The Day Before” being a scam are half true. Everything critics have said is true:

  • The employees are totally committed
  • They’ll never do it
  • How is a studio like this supposed to create a game like this?

    • This was all absolutely justified.

    But there was obviously no ill will behind it, but simply a mixture of “Hurray, we can do it”, excessive overestimation of oneself, and the will to exploit oneself.

    This was evident in messages in which the developers compared themselves to action heroes that no one believes in but who would prove it to everyone.

    According to the insider report one can state:

    Ultimately, The Day Before had a dangerous mix. They were ambitious and competent enough to release great trailers that got a lot of people excited about the game. But the company wasn’t disciplined, experienced and competent enough to keep the promises that trailers had made to players.

    More on the subject:

    Steam: The makers of The Day Before say it was a good game – if only it hadn’t been for those Twitch streamers

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