The Day Before has been the subject of a lot of controversy over the past 24 hours. After launching earlier this week, an eager community quickly found themselves disappointed, leading to the game's "Overwhelmingly Negative" Steam score. Mere days later, developer Fntastic announced that it was "shutting down". However, another game's store page paints a different picture.

A survival game called The Wild Eight received a backend update (as noted on SteamDB) which changed the developer name. Since 2017, the dev has been listed as Fntastic. But as of yesterday, it's "Eight Points", sparking speculation that the studio simply changed its alias despite claims of closing down.

The Wild Eight has been removed from Fntastic's dev page, leaving only Radiant One, Propnight, and The Day Before. However, you can still find The Wild Eight - Supporter Pack listed on Fntastic's page, so not everything has been updated yet. Eight Points' dev page, meanwhile, lists The Wild Eight as its only game so far.

FNTASTIC changed their name to Eight Points or sold their IP
byu/master4life inpcgaming

Stranger still is that Eight Points is not a new company. Back in 2017, the studio announced that to celebrate The Wild Eight's launch, it was rebranding.

"Developers of The Wild Eight are proud to present their new name - Fntastic! During the whole development process the team has grown up - both in experience and amount of people (and previous name Eight Points was mainly about the first eight developers who started it all) [...] Our new name Fntastic stands for breaking the boundaries and art of imagination. They are our main tools in making The Wild Eight you'll enjoy."

Today, we announce the closure of Fntastic studio. Unfortunately, The Day Before has failed financially, and we lack the funds to continue. All income received is being used to pay off debts to our partners.

So, we know that Fntastic and Eight Points are one and the same. As for why the developer changed its name back to a handle it hasn't used in six years, it's unclear.

It's also worth noting that Fntastic's socials are being wiped en masse. All of its YouTube videos are gone, its Instagram and Facebook accounts no longer exist, and its TikTok library has been cleared. The only active social media account it has left is Twitter, making this entire saga even stranger.

Posted: Dec 16, 2023 2:30 pm
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://www.thegamer.com/the-day-before-developer-name-change-the-wild-eight-steam/