The Day Before is one of the most anticipated upcoming games on PC but it’s currently embroiled in some controversy, as developer Fntastic revealed that it employed unpaid “volunteers” to work on the survival game. The developer now defends this practice, saying that each of its employees “works willingly for a common cause.”
While open-world game The Day Before is the most wishlisted game on Steam, it has received criticism thanks to confirmation on developer Fntastic’s website that it considers “every Fntastic member” as “a volunteer,” with part-time volunteers being paid only with “cool rewards, participation certificates, and free codes.”
In a statement provided to PCGamesN, Fntastic defends both its decision to call all of its workers volunteers, as well as using unpaid personnel to help its games. “Volunteering at Fntastic means that a person works willingly for a common cause,” the developer says. “We consider all team members, including employees, volunteers.”
Fntastic has “over 100 full-time internal volunteers,” or “employees,” working remotely across various countries. However, it also has “40 external US and worldwide volunteers,” or “supporters.” These part-time volunteers assist with the likes of “testing and reviewing our products” and localisation.
As Fntastic reports, it previously paid for localisation on its game Propnight from a “well-known large studio specializing in translations,” but the team wasn’t happy with its work. Instead, this was “redone with the help of our enthusiastic volunteers.” Fntastic says it plans to recruit some of its “most active” supporters for paid full-time work in the future.
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The Day Before was recently delayed to March 2023, which Fntastic says is to move the game to Unreal Engine 5.