In a time when live-service games burn bright and fizzle fast, the team behind Dune: Awakening is playing the long game—literally. In a new interview with VideoGamer, Funcom’s Joel Bylos, Creative Director on the survival MMO, revealed that the studio is building Dune: Awakening for the long haul with a 10-year vision that pushes back against what he calls the “scary” state of the modern games industry.
According to Bylos, too many big-budget games these days “live and die in a three-month period,” as studios and publishers chase short-term hype and quick returns. Funcom wants to do things differently: build a world that lasts, not one that burns out before players even settle in. The goal is to create an evolving open-world survival MMO that players can return to for years—not something that’s forgotten by Christmas.
Set in Arrakis, the unforgiving desert planet of Dune, the game blends survival crafting, political intrigue, and massive sandworms into one ambitious package. Bylos admits it’s an “unconventional” take on both MMOs and survival games, but that’s the point. With player-driven conflict, economy, and progression systems at its core, Dune: Awakening is designed to grow and change alongside its community over time—not just serve as a content treadmill.
The interview also touches on how the game’s systems were built with longevity in mind, taking lessons from other survival giants like Rust, ARK: Survival Evolved, and of course Funcom’s own Conan Exiles. The team didn’t aim for a quick splash—they’re aiming for sustained life.
Bylos didn’t sugarcoat his view of the current gaming landscape either, calling out the “unsustainable” pressure studios face to crank out viral hits in shorter and shorter windows. It’s an industry climate Dune: Awakening deliberately steps away from by focusing on long-term engagement, community feedback, and meaningful updates over time.
Dune: Awakening officially launched on June 10, 2025, and with its promise of large-scale survival, shifting political alliances, and the ever-present threat of Arrakis’ monstrous sandworms, it’s already turning heads as one of the most ambitious survival MMOs of the year.
If you’re curious about how the game actually plays, make sure to check out our Dune: Awakening review and our Deep Desert Survival Guide for essential tips on surviving Arrakis when the sandstorms hit.