Dune's new-gen open-world survival game resurfaces with new details

Dune survival game
(Image credit: Funcom)

Funcom has revealed a few more details on its open world survival game set in the Dune universe, which will be the studio's "most ambitious project yet."

The devs are currently referring to this as the "unannounced Dune survival game," which was previously confirmed as part of a three-game deal between Funcom and Legendary Entertainment signed back in 2019.

The game will be set on Arrakis, and will be focused on multiplayer. Similar to other recent informal game announcements, like Blizzard's survival game and the mobile Call of Duty: Warzone spin-off, Project Aurora, today's announcement seems to be more an effort to recruit new developers than news meant to get players excited.

A few more potential details are nestled in those job listings. An Associate Game Director listing notes crafting systems, and the Lead Gameplay Programmer ad notes that the game will be developed on Unreal Engine, with planned releases for PC and console.

The World Director listing suggests plenty of gameplay details are up in the air, however, as Funcom is still looking for someone who can work out world design elements like "time and place, degree of fantasy versus realism, location, high level biome requirement, symbols, [and] sounds," and mechanics governing "political, social, economics, [and] geography" systems.

Funcom's announcement notes that it has "honed its craft creating unforgettable experiences in captivating universes and delivering lasting success with games like Conan Exiles." That's the only one of the company's previous titles noted in this first reveal, and it seems likely the licensed survival game could serve as a blueprint for this Dune game.

Dune: Spice Wars hit Steam Early Access in April, published by Funcom and developed by Shiro Games.

There are plenty of options among the best survival games to fill your time until you set foot on Arrakis.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

Read more
Dune: Awakening - a close-up of Paul Atreides in the upcoming Dune game.
Dune Awakening: Everything we know so far about the new Dune MMO
A Big in 2025 Dune Awakening image, showing combat and a sandworm
After survival games like Conan Exiles, Funcom says it's made "a game with its own identity" out of Dune: Awakening – and I believe it
Dune: Awakening
Dune: Awakening is so much more than a survival game or an MMO - it's a unique sci-fi experience shaped by Frank Herbert's 60-year-old lore and all that came after it
A gloved hand holding a compass in a snowy field
PUBG creator’s new project won't just be the hardest survival game ever made - it's aiming to be the hardest survival game anyone could possibly make
Prologue
PUBG creator's nails-hard survival game launches this summer for $20, and its new trailer shows all the ways it'll try and kill you
A misty, forested mountainside in Prologue: Go Wayback!
PUBG creator's wilderness survival game actually draws inspiration from an unexpected place - a whole raft of zombie games like DayZ, Project Zomboid, and Left 4 Dead
Latest in Survival
Atomfall
Atomfall devs don't mind Fallout comparisons "because it's got that post-apocalyptic quarantine zone atmosphere," just like Bethesda's RPGs do
A woman in a underwater machine waving during the cinematic teaser for Subnautica 2.
Subnautica 2: Everything we know about the new underwater survival game
A misty, forested mountainside in Prologue: Go Wayback!
PUBG creator's wilderness survival game actually draws inspiration from an unexpected place - a whole raft of zombie games like DayZ, Project Zomboid, and Left 4 Dead
Terraria art showing a short-haired blond man sitting atop a grassy field in metal armor, colorful slimes on either side of him
Terraria is forever: look no further than its go-to mod tool, which just hit an all-time Steam peak ahead of surely, for real, definitely final update 1.4.5
Solarpunk airship interior
The most popular open-world survival game in Steam Next Fest is coming straight for my JRPG-born obsession with floating islands
Cubic Odyssey
This 93% positive Steam Next Fest survival game demo wants to combine Minecraft and No Man's Sky with "RPG-style depth," and so far it's actually pulling it off
Latest in News
Baldur's Gate 3 screenshot showing Astarion, a pale male elf with short curly white hair and red eyes, looking over his shoulder with a smirk on his face
Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion actor comes face to face with what might just be the best merch to come of the RPG yet – a 5-foot Funko Pop figure of his character
Drop
New horror movie starring White Lotus and Yellowstone actors gets a great Rotten Tomatoes score as early reactions call it the "perfect date night movie"
Lois and Peter in Family Guy season 23
After 11 years, Family Guy suddenly brings back a deep-cut character for season 23
Key art for Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE showing the Prince rolling a Katamari as the King of All Cosmos sits at a livestreaming setup.
The first all-new Katamari Damacy game in almost 8 years is trapped in Apple Arcade jail, and I can only hope it follows in Hello Kitty Island Adventure's footsteps to eventually escape
Atomfall
Atomfall boss "very familiar" with Baldur's Gate 3 director's frustrations with publishers, as he recalls horror advice that games are "faster to make" if you "make fewer bugs"
The Rise of Skywalker
Despite those retirement reports, Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy is "very involved" in the Rey Star Wars movie, according to Daisy Ridley