More bad news for The Day Before, as the devs are now fighting a "fraudulent" advertising scam

The woes of struggling zombie survival game The Day Before show no sign of letting up, as the developers have announced they're attempting to contain an advertising scam around the project.

Earlier this week, fans noticed various messages suggesting that developer Fntastic was offering YouTube advertising opportunities around the game, with influencers able to start requesting early access keys. All of that was in spite of a nine-month delay over a trademark dispute that has led much of the community to turn against the game, branding it a scam that's never existed to the extent that its developers have previously claimed.

Over on the game's Discord, the game's developers say those messages are not legitimate. A statements reads that "it has come to our attention that several influencers have received communication from individuals pretending to represent Fntastic." The statement claims that these messages are "fraudulent," and encourages anyone contacted to notify the game's moderation team "so that appropriate action can be taken."

While the illegitimate messages are aimed primarily at content creators rather than fans, the game's community has been largely unsympathetic. The recent delay coupled with an overall lack of transparency, as well as uncertainty within the game's moderation team that the project even exists, means goodwill for the game has all but dried up for many. Some fans remain confident that Fntastic has continued its work in good faith, but for a game that was one of the most-wishlisted games on Steam – until that aforementioned trademark dispute saw it removed from the platform – it's a dramatic fall from grace.

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I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.