Dune: Awakening team faces layoffs as Funcom boss says it can't sustain its "size and structure"

Dune: Awakening developer Funcom is pivoting to focus on its two ongoing online projects, Conan Exiles and the more recent survival MMO based on Frank Herbert's universe – a pivot that means reshuffling the team and, unfortunately, layoffs. The news comes from GamesIndustry.biz alongside a direct statement from Funcom CEO Rui Casais, who says he's stepping down at the end of 2026 after 11 years as studio lead. Chief product officer Scott Junior will step into his role – but that's not the only change in the books for the team. Those previous redundancies also accompanied words on how Dune: Awakening "has already shown incredible potential" and was "the biggest release we've had in our 32-year long history of making great games." Dune: Awakening boss reveals movie director Denis Villeneuve once feared the survival game's name "could be a little too close to Star Wars"