Whether or not the players were scammed, the employees and volunteers were ABSOLUTELY scammed.  Protip #1: Don't tolerate working for free unless you're volunteering at a non-profit.  Protip #2: If your job is regularly TAKING money from you, for any reason, you're being scammed.  Run.

It makes sense why they had “volunteers”. Everything was planned. They didn’t wanna pay staff so when they closed the studio they only had to pay back investors their initial investment and then they get to pocket the rest. They knew exactly what they were doing from day one.

Steam and Valve aren't squeaky clean, but that was one of the biggest fucking W's to auto-refund people

The idea that the trailer was created from a "Vertical slice" is probably too generous.  I'll bet it never existed at all, and was entirely created in a 3d art package.   Like a Pixar movie.
That's why the gameplay feels "off", because it was created by an animator moving sliders on a timeline, and not a player holding a game controller.

Still crazy to me how E3 is gone. That used to be the highlight of the year for game devs. We'd spend months creating builds of our games just for E3.

I love how the two guys constantly keep that fake smile and do the same hand movements whenever they are talking, making Oblivion NPC's feel real in comparison.

Took the term "fake it till you make it" literally. Got called out for faking it, then blamed you because they couldn't make it.

Having a shit laptop that barely runs minecraft has generally saved me from getting hyped up and then buying games like this

When they claim there's voice chat and not one of those people are either cursing, coughing, have a baby crying, or random TV noise in the background.... You know it's fake

The thing that I can't get over with this controversy was what the hype was around. Even if this game performed exactly as advertised, THE DAY BEFORE was a totally derivative, unoriginal-looking zombie apocalypse survival shooter with the same drab greyish-brownish aesthetic as hundreds of other games.

I think consumers need to reflect on how low their standards for artistic originality have sunk to have hyped themselves up over something that never looked all that worthwhile in the first place.

Why was it even called "The Day Before" ? Shouldn't it have been called "The Day After" ? on account of the whole POST-apocalypse thing?

If a professional video game studio says “shit happens” they shouldn’t even be legally allowed to sell u a product

Wow. The employees really are the real victims here. Fining them for "poor quality work?????" That doesn't even sound legal!

lol that still isn’t the end of the story. They have attempted to come back as Fantastic 2.0, and asked for crowdfunding for their planned new game/scam called Escape Factory…

I told everyone this would be a major scam, and I got major shit in the comment section. Someone even going as far as to pay me 100$ if it was a scam.

I want my 100$.

great documentary but just a small note: by the time the game was about to release they DID get accused of asset flip, from that lengthy 10 minute gameplay video of nothing happening people had noticed several of the models looked like models in the unreal asset store

I like to thanks Ubisoft for years of training and disappointment to prepare me for this moment.

This is no longer about a game, this is about two people exploiting young and hopeful people by abusing and taking advantage of them. Absolutely disgusting and unacceptable.

PS: What kind of psychotic individuals would fine their own unpaid employees for not being able to comply with their absurd standards?

For all those privileged smartasses questioning the intelligence of the “volunteers,” it’s obvious you’ve never found yourself in a similar situation where the only way to make a living and gain necessary curriculum experience is to work for a company with questionable morals. I did it, I didn’t enjoy it. But when desperation hits, one feels like there are no other alternatives available.

When a game dev announce a change in game engine, especially when it is already under development, it is always a major red flag.