Expectations from gamers are open world survival MMO The Day Before . It seems that questions and criticisms have been raised about the developer FNTASTIC’s operation policy.
FNTASTIC is a studio based in Singapore. The studio has been working on works such as The Wild Eight and ProPnight in the past. The Day Before currently being developed by the studio is an open world survival MMO set in the United States after zombie pandemic. In this work, it is possible to explore the vast world using vehicles and other activities, and activities based on survivors. We aim to survive while cooperating with other players in multiplayer and sometimes hostile.
In addition to the beautiful graphics, this work has been attracting attention, and in May this year, the transition to UNREAL ENGINE 5 was announced. It is expected to be a fairly large work, and expectations from users are high. It is a expected work that the top of the Wish list of Steam will be adhered to this article from around May, despite repeated postponements.
However, the policy related to the FNTASTIC staff is currently involving users and media. This is because the studio recently stated on the official website, All members of the studio are volunteers. According to it, the studio is operated by two types of volunteers. First of all, for full-time volunteers, the number of people is limited, but salaries are paid. On the other hand, part-time volunteers are rewarded in the form of source code and Contribution Certificates. In other words, it can be read that there is no money reward for part-time staff.
Early skeptical about this policy was Zack Jackson of WELLPLAYED, an overseas media. He mentioned his FNTASTIC policy on his Twitter account and published his article in WellPlayed. What is particularly questionable in the article is the treatment of part-time volunteers. Because the part-time volunteers that can be communicated on the FNTASTIC site are wide. For example, it is said to be localization, community modeling, and improvement of projects that make use of unique skills and creating new special elements. Although it depends on the studio size, it is usually a task that will usually cause money. The WellPlayed article questions that FNTASTIC has entrusted these tasks to part-time volunteers.
The treatment of part-time volunteers that FNTASTIC talked on the official website would be a so-called rewarding exploitation. WellPlayed’s point has resonated, and multiple overseas media picked up this topic. Both media focus on criticism that FNTASTIC works for developers free of charge.
On the other hand, the FNTASTIC side also explained the current situation through inquiries from wellplayed. First, he commented, Many people are trying to help the studio in various ways for the staff. He said that he was involved in community models and localization work, regardless of coding or development. I would like to say that volunteers do not include professionals who should get rewards. However, WellPlayed has questioned the comment that is localization a part of the development process?
On June 30, Fntastic released a more detailedexplanation_. Here, FNTASTIC defines that volunteers are spontaneous to work for common purposes. He explained that volunteer refers to everyone, including employees. In other words, the fact is that even if they are employees, they are simply called volunteers according to the company’s philosophy.
In the statement, a part-time volunteer that does not pay a full-time volunteer with a salary paid is a volunteer (supporter) and explains two types of forms. First of all, more than 100 employees are currently enrolled in the studio. And about 40 people seem to cooperate with the studio.
As for the 40 supporters, they are cooperating with ProPnight tests and localization. FNTASTIC has once asked a specialized large-scale studio for the localization of PropNight. However, the quality was not as perfect as expected. So FNTASTIC has decided to ask the supporters for re-launching. The studios and supporters both said, I found a bug for ProPnight, dealt with the cheetah, and organized the Discord community. Also. We are also planning to adopt a supporter in full time, and recently hired one supporter as a full-time. It will continue to recruit in the future.
However, FNTASTIC’s explanation does not mention whether the supporters, part-time volunteers, have sufficiently rewarded. Rather, there is even an impression that the width of the support of supporters has been emphasized, such as searching for bugs and cheating measures, which are part of QA (quality assurance). The road to full-time recruitment may also have an inappropriate structure that if you work free of charge, you will be employed regularly. On the contrary, it can be said that the doubt deepens.
Criticism has been criticized for FNTASTIC, which explained. The studio co-founder Eduard Gotovtsev’s explanation announcement tweet will receive a reply, such as pay for workers. Some are concerned about the development progress and final quality of The Day Before, which is likely to participate in free volunteers in many important parts. On the other hand, some users have commented that they want to be a supporter, and they are guided in the studio. In fact, some may be attractive and passionate about the contribution to FNTASTIC.
The Day Before is being developed on March 1, 2023. How will FNTASTIC’s volunteer culture affect the work? Even if the game is released, this working environment will continue to be questioned unless the staff pays legitimate rewards.