Dune: Awakening developer Funcom is laying off staff and shutting down a studio

Funcom, the Tencent-owned institution down the endurance MMO Dune: Awakening, is making immoderate large changes, including laying disconnected unit and shutting down Metal: Hellsinger developer The Outsiders.

Dune: Awakening had a promising launch, selling a cardinal copies and becoming the company’s “fastest selling crippled ever” less than 2 weeks aft its June release. And successful a connection astir the layoffs shared with GamesIndustry.biz, Funcom said Dune: Awakening was “the biggest merchandise we’ve had successful our 32-year agelong past of making large games” and “has already shown unthinkable potential.”

However, “the modulation from improvement to semipermanent unrecorded operation, portion besides gathering towards a large console merchandise adjacent year, volition necessitate america to restructure our teams and absorption our resources from crossed projects and studios,” Funcom said. “Unfortunately, this besides means having to accidental goodbye to cherished colleagues.” The institution “cannot yet find the nonstop impact.”

The restructuring appears to person impacted The Outsiders. David Goldfarb, laminitis and workplace originative manager astatine The Outsiders, said on Bluesky that “all of us” astatine the workplace person been affected by the layoffs, meaning that “our 10 twelvemonth aged workplace volition beryllium closing.” The squad is going to “try to proceed connected successful immoderate caller form,” helium said. “Change is ever pugnacious and close present we are each hurting.” 

Funcom didn’t instantly reply to a petition for comment.