Dune: Awakening Creative Director Says Funcom’s Majority Workforce Will Remain Focused on Dune for “Quite a While”

Funcom is keeping the majority of its development workforce focused on Dune: Awakening for the foreseeable future. Chief Creative Officer Joel Bylos says the studio is not yet ready to begin production on another major game, making the survival RPG the company’s primary focus as it expands onto consoles and receives additional content.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Bylos explained that Funcom still has some developers working on Conan Exiles, while a small group is considering what could come after Dune: Awakening. However, most of the studio remains committed to the Dune project.

“The majority of people are on Dune Awakening, and that’s kind of the way it will stay, I’d say, for quite a while,”

Bylos said.

Funcom Is Not Ready to Start Its Next Game

Bylos indicated that Funcom’s next project remains little more than an early idea. He described potential future projects as

“wispy thoughts in the back of our heads,”

suggesting the studio is not currently preparing to shift its main development resources away from Dune: Awakening.

The comments follow Funcom’s restructuring and layoffs announced in late 2025 as the Tencent-owned developer moved to prioritize Dune: Awakening. The Outsiders, the studio behind Metal: Hellsinger, was also subsequently closed.

Despite the restructuring, Bylos confirmed that Conan Exiles continues to receive attention. He also remains involved in thinking about Funcom’s long-term direction.

The continued focus comes as Dune: Awakening expands beyond its original PC release. Funcom has added a single-player mode, difficulty customization and console-specific optimization as part of the game’s move to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Bylos said Funcom is also looking at ways to keep players engaged through additional events and other retention-focused content. The developer is hoping the console release brings a “whole surge” of new players to the survival RPG.

At the same time, Bylos believes the wider industry is moving toward games that can run on less powerful hardware. He expects more Steam Deck-style devices and argued that developers may increasingly need to prioritize optimization and stylized visuals over pure photorealism.