Dune: Awakening may be lifting off from PC-only territory and arriving on consoles soon, but you won't be able to explore Arrakis with just anyone. According to developer Funcom, crossplay won't be supported because its focus is on finishing the ports and releasing the single-player mode.
Funcom acknowledged that players might be disappointed to hear it won't have crossplay at launch, but suggested that it might be added in the future in a statement to Eurogamer.
The studio said it will "address it more in an upcoming livestream," but that it's "technically and operationally complex to implement crossplay in Dune: Awakening and would require us to put resources on it that are currently focused on making the console port and the September update the best it can be."
That means PS5 players will be stuck playing with people on the same platform. Xbox Series X players will too, although they will be able to play with anyone on PC who owns the game through the Windows Store.
Ironically, the big September update will add a single-player mode to the early access game. Maybe that's why its director recently said he doesn't consider it an MMO. Dune: Awakening is about to lean into being a survival game first and an MMO second, which sounds a lot like Final Fantasy 14 players describing that game as an RPG with MMO mechanics. It's really up to you to decide how you want to play it.
The update will drop on September 22, giving console players the opportunity to play through the entirety of the game's book one story. New players will see a single-player option before they jump in, but will need to decide if they want to cut themselves off from ever seeing other players, including PvP in the Deep Desert.
Dune: Awakening fans "so disappointed" by no Polar Cap in 1.4, Funcom says it's "a huge amount of work" but the devs "are still very much actively working on the new map"
