The Day Before delayed nearly a year because someone else trademarked the name

The Day Before, the open-world MMO which looks like a mix of The Division and The Last of Us, is now releasing at the end of the year owing to a trademark mixup. Fans are less than impressed.

Originally announced in early 2021, The Day Before was promising. Set in a deadly post-pandemic United States that buckled under the swarms of infected, the player would be one of many, many survivors trying to eke out an existence. There would be opportunities for cooperation and competition in this world where resources are scarce and danger looms large, not only from the zombies but from environmental hazards like severe snowstorms.

It surged through the ranks on Steam's bestseller list, ahead of things like Starfield and Hogwarts Legacy, for a time. Now those invested in its journey are losing interest due to the odd business decisions of the developer, Fntastic.

Check out some gameplay of The Day Before here. Make the most of it, because there've been minimal updates on the game since:

The Day Before has disappeared from Steam in its entirety. This was initially ascribed to a maintenance glitch but now the developer has admitted that a trademark issue must delay the game for eight months. "Right before the release, Steam blocked our game page at the request of a private individual," explained Fntastic. "As you know, our game was announced in January 2021. At the time of the announcement, The Day Before game trademark was available."

"Previously, we were not aware of the existence of claims. We found out about this only on January 19, 2023, when we received a complaint from him and a request to contact him... We previously planned to post a lengthy gameplay video later this month, but we'll have to sort this issue out first."

I'm no Sir Alan Sugar, but I would guess that a trademark is one of the first things you square away when staking a claim on a new intellectual property, and fans are disappointed with this latest news from Fntastic. "All you had to do was show SOME gameplay a MONTH BEFORE RELEASE. I get the legality of it but the patent office would easily see the claim here was in bad faith," said one. The Day Before is set to release for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X on 10 November, 2023. Probably.