Sometimes, the games industry seems like a monument to humankind’s contempt for logic. Other times, it is a beautiful scene that produces some of the most incredible art today.

Fntastic, makers of 2024’s biggest Kickstarter flop, The Day Before, definitely fall under the former.

After the disastrous launch of The Day Before, the company took a little break before launching another Kickstarter for Escape Factory, a co-op escape game.

Unsurprisingly, given the developer’s track record, the game only raised $2388 out of its $15183 goal, which led Fntastic to cancel the project or “postpone it until a more appropriate time,” in Fntastic PR speak.

If Escape Factory’s failure was obvious, what immediately followed is shocking. After two massive development debacles in a record-short time, Fntastic decided to double down.

In a social media communiqué, Fntastic says it received “many requests for a prop hunt game,” which motivated it to start a new project as the Escape Factory fundraiser stalled.

Although no Kickstarter link is up, Fntastic openly states that it may launch a new campaign to support the ITEMS development. The remaining funding will come from mobile games.

The Day Before

Late last year, Fntastic pulled one of the most egregious rug-pulls in recent gaming history through The Day Before.

The company’s multiplayer open world The Last of Us launched on Steam to overwhelmingly negative reviews after a bizarre marketing campaign that tried to actively remind players that this was not a scam.

After becoming one of the most pre-ordered games on Steam despite the writing on the wall, The Day Before flopped hard on release. So hard, that Fntastic closed its doors shortly after, taking the game down with it.

Fntastic vanished for nine months, returning with the now-doomed Escape Factory Kickstarter in late September.

Most of the money spent on The Day Before and Escape Factory was retrieved. Steam waived its 2-hour limit to allow anyone who bought the game to get a full refund. Meanwhile, the Escape Factory Kickstarter did not collect any funds because it failed.

The Day Before has become a cautionary tale about pre-ordering games, especially ambitious ones from inexperienced studios. Even if we consider that The Day Before was not a scam, players ended up without a functional game.