The Most Anticipated MMO Has Been Devastatingly Delayed
Everyone waiting for it is going to have to keep waiting.
The Day Before, an upcoming third-person survival MMO set in a deadly post-pandemic world, is one of the gaming world’s most anticipated titles, as it’s currently wishlisted by millions of Steam users. Originally scheduled to release this summer, the forthcoming survival MMO has now been pushed into the early portion of 2023. And while most delays usually signal trouble behind the curtains, this isn’t the case with the upcoming game, and the cause for the delay will likely result in a better product.
Admittedly, gamers aren’t too welcoming to delays. They usually mean a troublesome development cycle, just like with the delayed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, which thankfully got a new developer. With that said, any reasonable gamer will take any form of delay over a half-baked end result, and according to IGN, The Day Before will actually be a better overall product due to this delay — as the game’s developer has decided to make a switch to a more advanced game engine. Below is a 13-plus minute gameplay preview for the MMO, posted last year.
Developer Fntastic, credited with 2017’s The Wild Eight and 2021’s Propnight, revealed their decision to postpone the highly-anticipated The Day Before, which would allow them to move the game to Epic’s recently revealed Unreal Engine 5. This happened only weeks before the originally scheduled release, and while it’s bound to anger or dishearten some fans, it’s ultimately for the better since the new engine allows for better in-game visuals and physics.
The new release date is now scheduled for March 1, 2023, which means that Fntastic plans to release the game in 10 months after changing game engines. While it does sound insane to even consider achieving such a feat in such a short amount of time, this announcement shows two things: the sheer development prowess of Unreal Engine 5 and the sheer ambition of Fntastic as a gaming developer. Admittedly, Fntastic always had huge goals for the game, and this change might help them achieve them.
However, this does make some fans feel uneasy about Fntastic’s decision and the new release date. For example, Kingdom Hearts 3, which is now getting a sequel, switched engines early in its development cycle and still took another five years to release (overall six years in development). So, there’s some healthy skepticism surrounding Fntastic’s recent announcement regarding The Day Before, leading us back to the previously mentioned development power of Unreal Engine 5 and Fntastic’s ambition.
So, while the delays aren’t uncommon in the gaming industry, much to the misfortune of every gamer on the planet, the circumstances associated with this particular delay are rather interesting. Changing game engines in such late stages of production and in only ten months will most certainly establish Fntastic as a very serious gaming developer — if they manage to pull off restructuring the entire The Day Before MMO in that amount of time.
The now-delayed The Day Before MMO game is set to release on March 1, 2023, and it’s currently in development for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X.
