Dune: Awakening will receive a steady flow of new content, with major updates planned to release every three or four months, according to developer Funcom.
In a Reddit AMA, Funcom outlined its vision for the future of its popular survival MMO set in author Frank Herbert’s sci-fi universe. Executive producer Scott Junior said each major update will be free and include new story and PvE content. These updates will be released alongside the game’s paid DLCs, which can be bought standalone or together as part of the game’s season pass.
Junior additionally mentioned Dune: Awakening will receive new PvE maps for players to explore in the future, though it’s unclear if these would be included for free as a major update or come in the form of a paid expansion.
As for the more immediate future, Junior said an update is coming in early July that will contain “too many” quality-of-life changes to list. Junior didn’t go into detail on what those changes would be, but said to expect the patch notes when the patch is closer to being ready for testing.
Funcom dove into plenty of other topics as part of the AMA, ranging from plans to make it so players can name storage containers and vehicles to its thoughts on potential changes to Dune: Awakening’s PvP-focused endgame. Many of players’ complaints are focused around the heavy reliance on vehicles in the game’s endgame Deep Desert zone, so much so that PvP encounters are largely between flying Ornithopters rather than on-foot encounters where the game’s melee and firearms can come into play. When asked about the potential of a Deep Desert zone where only ground vehicles would be allowed, creative director Joel Bylos shot down the idea but did say Funcom is looking to make some changes.
“The current balance between vehicles and on-foot is not tuned to our liking and there are multiple changes in the pipeline to address this,” Bylos said.
Other additions players can expect in Dune: Awakening’s future based on Funcom’s Reddit answers include an option to duel other players, a deposit all option for water, changes to the endgame PvE Landsraad system, additional contracts to complete, and a third faction that “will change the entire dynamic” of the Landsraad, according to Bylos.
Dune: Awakening is finding major success on Steam, having surpassed 140,000 concurrent players. Its most recent update addressed some of its endgame PvP problems by making it so vehicles no longer deal damage when colliding with other players, as well as increased respawn timers in PvP zones. Dune: Awakening is still slated to launch on consoles, but not until 2026.
