Is The Day Before a scam? Players question game after further delays

Steam’s second most wish-listed game, The Day Before, which is classed as an “open-world MMO survival set in a deadly, post-pandemic America overrun by flesh-hungry infected and survivors killing each other for food, weapons, and cars.” has been delayed for a further 8 months due to a trademark dispute.

The team behind the game, Fntastic, have released a statement, which refers to how Steam blocked the game page “at the request of a private individual” because of the games name. The full statement can be seen below:

The game, when originally announced, showed an immediate bit of promise with fantastic gameplay trailers and the concept seemed to interest players. The game was originally meant to be released in 2022 however it was then delayed to March of 2023 due to a change of engine, with the decision of going with Unreal Engine 5, as confirmed by IGN. With further delays now announced, players are now being sceptical and concerned about the future of the game and some even questioning if it’s real or not. In a Tweet from Skill Up, he mentions how a head Discord mod of the Day Before’s channel has questioned the authenticity of the game itself.

Obviously the above seems slightly far fetched as it would no sense to claim to have made a video game and then it all turns out to be fake. However, players are increasingly worried if all the hype for this game will turn out to be unwarranted. With all the rumours and news flying about regarding the game and players making their own assumptions, it does make you wonder whether this game will turn out to be another flop like we have seen plenty of times. A lot of players are questioning whether the delay may just be because the game simply isn’t ready or as discussed above, it is actually fake because why wouldn’t you trademark a game prior to public announcement? The company have spent countless hours working on the game, marketing and releasing various videos to show us how good it is going to be but have missed the most basic part of the entire process, which is getting the correct trademarks and ensuring the name they plan to use isn’t already trademarked by somebody else.

What are your thoughts on the situation?