Dune: Awakening lead says some "people love the game, some people hate the game," but Funcom is "hoping more" will get into it now after "things slowed down over the summer" in the survival MMO

Dune: Awakening - two soldiers looking at the mouth of a sandworm during the new game. — (Image credit: Funcom)

Players either love or hate Dune: Awakening, as creative director Joel Bylos notes – but after a launch that Funcom was very much pleased with, the developers' primary concern is getting the survival MMO into the hands of more potential new fans.

Bylos explains as much in a recent interview with Radio Times Gaming, first recalling online reactions to Dune: Awakening. "There's a lot of negativity [in comments] and you know, [some] people love the game, some people hate the game – and they let you know." As for fans' reactions in person, the lead says he's "meeting a lot of people who have just come up and thank me for the game and say like, 'Hey, I've played it for 300 hours.'" As Bylos notes, Dune: Awakening has "only been out for two months, so that's a lot of time."

It's a "very touching" experience for devs – the sort of experience Funcom hopes to build for future players, too. After sharing how "happy" the studio was with the survival MMO's sales and player counts on Steam (which hit nearly 150,000 in just two days), the creative director admits "things slowed down over the summer as they do."

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This is true enough – as per SteamDB, Dune: Awakening has around 14,000 players or so right now, which is definitely fewer than its nearly 190,000 peak a few months ago. Funcom isn't done with the game, however, so the devs are "hoping more people will get into the game." In Bylos' own words, "I still think there are a lot of people who haven't picked up the game who would love it." With the new Chapter 2 changes coming, too, things might turn around sooner rather than later.

Version 1.2.0.0, which introduces the second chapter to the game, feels like the biggest patch yet, after all. From the story's hotly anticipated continuation (additional content I've been anticipating myself) to… donkey petting… there's a lot to look forward to. Here's hoping the update brings in fresh faces and sees the return of older players alike – I know I'll be making my way back to Arrakis first thing tomorrow.

Dune: Awakening dev says "when we do bring stuff like sandworm riding into the game, it'll feel like an epic moment like in the movies," but you can't "trivialize the sandworm" because that breaks Dune

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After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.