After a strong start, Dune: Awakening is struggling to attract players to its servers. Chapter 2 and the new DLC are also receiving harsh criticism. MeinMMO highlights the reasons behind the disappointing performance of the recent content packages.
With 189,333 simultaneous active players, Dune: Awakening achieved one of the biggest Steam launches of the year. Funcom also celebrated the most successful launch in the studio’s history with 1 million players. In direct comparison, the also successful Conan Exiles reached this number only after a year.
However, three months later, little remains of this hype:
- The main game Dune: Awakening currently has 72 percent positive reviews on Steam. The trend is downward: 59 percent positive reviews in the last 30 days.
- The first DLC “Wildlife of Arrakis” launched and is being severely criticized on Steam with only 15 percent positive reviews.
- Similarly disappointing, the new DLC “Lost Harvest” is launching on Steam, with only 22 percent positive reviews.
- Although there are new (partly free) contents, the recent releases have hardly affected player numbers. On launch day, during peak time, there were according to steamdb.info 26,497 players active in Dune: Awakening. In the days before, it was slightly over 20,000. In early September, more than 28,000. In August, at times more than 30,000.
Don’t get me wrong: The numbers are good. Dune: Awakening is far from dead. And surely we will see a slightly bigger spike in player numbers during the “Free Weekend” event running from September 11 to 14.
Ultimately, however, the developers are likely not satisfied with how the new contents are received by the community and how the player numbers have developed since launch. In the following, we analyze why Dune: Awakening has lost its momentum and many players.
Starting Over? No Thanks!
One of the fundamental systems of Dune: Awakening is that player bases are located directly in the persistent world. They are part of Arrakis, even when offline. The danger here is that eventually ghost towns of abandoned buildings or unfinished construction sites form, blocking good building spots for new players.
The solution from the Funcom developers: Players who want to keep their base even during inactive phases must regularly pay taxes and ensure sufficient energy. Players who neglect this will lose their base and all possessions stored there after a few weeks. Only what is in the inventory or on the bank is safe.
Regarding this solution, community feedback has been critical from the start. Many players simply do not want to log into a game regularly that they actually do not want to play at the moment. And even less do they want to start over just because they have lost almost everything due to their break.
At gamescom, we addressed this issue with the developers and asked if there is no better or less frustrating solution to manage players’ homes and possessions.
Creative Director Joel Bylos stated that while they understand the problem, the developers want to stick to this system fundamentally. However, there are plans for innovations that will allow players to restart quickly after losing their base. Planned are resource packages for returnees who come online after a long break.
Will that be enough to change the mood? The recently released content has definitely intensified the criticism of the system. Many players are so frustrated by the loss of their bases, vehicles, and other possessions that they are simply completely avoiding the new content. This underscores that the developers have made a serious mistake with their system.
In addition, he has regularly launched a non-MMORPG from Funcom over the past years, of course referring to Conan Exiles, which is similar to Dune: Awakening in some areas but in others is completely different.
At launch, Karsten had enormous fun with Dune: Awakening. Now he is going through the frustrating restart, as he also lost almost everything after a long break (knowingly).
You Can’t Please Everyone
While Conan Exiles had a very strong focus on survival elements and building, Dune: Awakening wants to be much more. Survival and building great bases remain in focus, of course. However, the Dune MMO also wants to offer elaborate story quest lines, events in the world, PvP, and of course a motivating endgame.
The difficulties in pleasing everyone are evident from the discussions surrounding the Deep Desert since launch. PvP fans complain at times, as do the PvE faction. And in between, there are hackers and exploiters who annoy everyone. Hardly anyone seems to be satisfied with the endgame zone – which is why the developers are planning comprehensive adjustments for Chapter 3.
This is also causing trouble with the DLCs. The first Wildlife package with the 4 cosmetic statues received criticism for: That’s far too little, we want more and real content!
Now DLC number 2 brings exactly that, with a side quest line, 3 test stations, another vehicle, emotes, skins, and new building parts. And what are many players now criticizing? The number of new building parts is far too low; Conan Exiles regularly offered significantly more. Thumbs down!
Elaborately produced content like the 4 to 6 hour mission chain, which never existed in the DLCs of Conan Exiles, is overlooked in many reviews. Not out of malice, surely, but because players focus only on the content that is relevant to them.
This broader offer that Dune: Awakening wants to provide punishes itself in a way. After all, the team’s time capacities are finite. If there is a desire for more of certain contents, other plans are inevitably put on hold. For those hoping for a motivating and fun endgame, they will likely have to wait until chapter 3, which is planned for the first quarter of 2026.
Silksong is the Cherry on Top
While all these challenges are somewhat self-inflicted, Funcom is also struggling with external factors right now. Firstly, there’s the big shadow cast by Hollow Knight: Silksong. This new Metroidvania attracts almost 450,000 players on Steam during prime time, source: steamdb.info.
Secondly, the new update of Path of Exile 2 is also tying many players to Steam (over 200,000 players during prime time, source: steamdb.info). And looking ahead to the upcoming release of Borderlands 4, the competitive environment for Dune: Awakening is certainly not going to ease up anytime soon.
Borderlands 4 is one of the biggest releases of the year:
What Could Cause a Trend Shift?
From our perspective, the developers have no choice but to stay on the ball and gradually remove the known issues of Dune: Awakening, improve the endgame (for both PvP and PvE fans), and deliver content replenishment for the various areas of the game that is fun and feels rewarding.
However, to give the recently gone players another chance, they need a better solution to the frustrating punishment for taking breaks. One suggestion: Those planning a longer absence could create a kind of backup for all their possessions. This would allow them to freely place the “lost” base with all its possessions back in the world upon their return.
Based on previous community feedback on the DLCs, the developers should also consider putting mostly cosmetic content into the paid packages, but with the scope of the various building styles that have been regularly added to Conan Exiles.
What do you think: What should Funcom do to get you to kick off in Dune: Awakening for the first time or again? Let us know in the comments! If you’re looking for more information on the new content of the survival MMO, feel free to check here: Dune: Awakening now has new armor sets for all classes, which many of you should receive without lifting a finger
