The studio behind The Day Before insists that its trademark dispute will be resolved cleanly, but has failed to explain how it happened.
Have you ever heard of The Day Before? We wouldn’t blame you if you hadn’t, but the open world survival MMO has made headlines this week when developer Fntastic (not to be confused with the esports organisation Fnatic) announced it was delaying the game by eight months.
On its own, this probably wouldn’t be a big deal. Games get delayed all the time; just look at Microsoft and Ubisoft. However, this delay announcement not only came just a couple months before its March 1 release, but also delayed the game’s first gameplay trailer in over a year.
What’s even more suspicious is that the delay has been caused by a trademark dispute, resulting in The Day Before being delisted from Steam. However, Fntastic is now saying that it was planning on delaying the game anyway.
For context, Fntastic announced the delay on January 25, explaining that a private individual had requested Steam block The Day Before’s page because of its title.
Apparently, this individual owns the trademark for the name The Day Before and had sent a complaint to Fntastic on January 19 for its use of the name.
What makes this stranger is that Fntastic says that, when it announced The Day Before in January 2021, the trademark was available. Someone else then proceeded to claim it following the announcement.
Fntastic is also confident that the situation will be resolved fairly easily, perhaps suggesting it intends on obtaining the trademark for itself. If not, it’ll have to change the game’s name.
‘We’re very confident that this issue will be resolved since we have strong legal partners. The extra time will allow us to better prepare for the release and make the overall improvements for the game. It will become even more polished, optimised, and content-filled,’ it explained.
The public response hasn’t exactly been sympathetic, though. Combined with the fact that the game was delayed once before, due to switching to Unreal Engine 5, and the studio’s controversial defence of hiring unpaid volunteers, many say they have lost interest in The Day Before.
There’re even accusations on Twitter and Reddit that the game is one big scam, which Fntastic has directly responded to and denied.
‘You probably remember him as the hero who breaks through the veil of disbelief when no one believes in him, but he finds the inner strength to win and prove to everyone what he is worth in the end.’
The Day Before launches for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
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