When we last introduced "The Day Before," the game, once the #2 wishlist game on Steam, was embroiled in a bizarre trademark dispute with a Korean calendar app. The dispute resulted in the game's release date being pushed back eight months, the video being removed from YouTube (opens in new tab), and the Steam page being immediately removed from the platform (opens in new tab).

But you can't hold back the good guys, and it's too late for the companies that have put so many resources into the project to back off now; according to PCGamesN (opens in new tab), the game's developer, Fntastic, has announced that in advance of the November 10 release date The company also announced via The Day Before Discord (opens in new tab) that it will be beta testing the game ahead of its November 10 release date. Additionally, the company said the game should be returning to Steam as well.

Fntastic is pleased to "announce that the game will be officially released on November 10, 2023 without further delay," read the announcement by Kentain, the official administrator of The Day Before Discord. Normally, a game does not need to reaffirm a release date it has already announced, but the development of The Day Before was so chaotic that such a reaffirmation was probably necessary.

"As we get closer to the release date, we will be beta testing the game," the update continued, "which will give players the opportunity to try the game before release" and give Fntastic "valuable feedback" that can be "used to improve the final product used to "improve the final product.

Kentain did not say when that beta will take place, or whether it will be open or closed, but some sort of demo is pretty much mandatory at this point. It may have been one of the most anticipated games on Steam (open in new tab) a few months ago, but the debacle over its trademark and some red flags in its development - we've barely seen The Day Before for some time, other than a heavily staged trailer Fntastic is probably hoping that the beta period will, if nothing else, convince skeptics that they have actually made a real video game.

"And for those who are wondering if this game will ever be released on Steam," Kentain concluded, the administrator said that the team at Fntastic is "working on it."

Of course, Fntastic itself claims that the Steam page was blocked "at the request of an individual" with a US trademark for the name "The Day Before," who was later identified as the owner of the Korean calendar app "TheDayBefore." It could be a tricky business, given that the Korean app developer claims to hold copyrights in six countries and the European Union (opens in new tab).

Perhaps Fntastic had a breakthrough in its dispute with TheDayBefore, or perhaps it is a fervent wish that it vowed to return to Steam. We will know which it is in the coming months.