Steam keys for The Day Before, the once highly anticipated game that launched in such a poor state its developer shut down four days later, are being sold online for hundreds of dollars following its delisting.
As reported by Kotaku, authorized third-party key seller Green Man Gaming lists allegedly unused The Day Before Steam keys for $233.97 at the cheapest, while others are being listed for more than $300. Steam keys let users download and install games even if they’ve been removed from sale. The Day Before was pulled from sale just four days after it launched in Early Access.
The Day Before, from developer Fntastic, was once Steam’s most wishlisted game before a strange series of events caused fans to grow more and more suspicious and concerned. Fntastic was accused of ripping off other games like The Division, Call of Duty, The Last of Us, Cyberpunk 2077, Grand Theft Auto 5, and more, on separate occasions, for example, and a trademark dispute complicated things too.
In November 2023, seven months after it promised no more delays, Fntastic delayed The Day Before again, this time indefinitely though its PC version would arrive in Early Access just a month late. This launch did not go well, as players flagged that essentially nothing Fntastic promised was actually in the game.
And finally, just four days after launch, when the player count had dropped 90% and The Day Before entered Steam’s worst 10 games of all time list, Fntastic announced it was closing down and everyone who bought the game could receive a refund.
In a rare IGN 1/10 review, we said: “The Day Before is easily one of the worst games I’ve ever played, to the point where I’m afraid to continue running it on my PC — and if you didn’t manage to try it, you can count yourself as one of the lucky ones.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.