Dune: Awakening devs are dialing back the game's PvP

PvP 'must be optional and incentivized rather than required,' Funcom says The developer behind the Dune online multiplayer survival game Dune: Awakening says it's dialing back the player-versus-player content in the game for a very good reason: Only about 20% of the game's players ever really engaged with it, perhaps at the expense of everyone else. That's why Funcom is pivoting to be "PvE-first" with its open-world survival game, according to an update posted to the Dune: Awakening store page on Steam. Funcom noted that "with over 80% of our lifetime players exclusively engaging with PvE content, the convergence of PvE and PvP, particularly in the Deep Desert, didn’t align with our objectives and remained a significant topic of discussion." Thus, the studio is rethinking its approach to Dune: Awakening's design and "underlin[ing] the PvE-first nature of the game." PvP conflict is regarded as an important activity for some players, but "it must be optional and incentivized rather than required for progression." As of patch 1.3.20.0, that will mean the following changes to Dune: Awakening, according to Funcom: All PvP zones in Hagga Basin will be disabled across all official Worlds.

Apr 10, 2026 → Apr 10, 2026