Just 5 months after launch, MMO Dune: Awakening sees its Steam player count drop below that of Funcom's 2017 survival game as it struggles with "Mixed" reviews

It's been a turbulent few months for Dune: Awakening, from its big early access launch into "Mostly Negative" reviews on Steam to the climb to "Very Positive" reception – but now, as it sits with a "Mixed" rating, the survival MMO's player count is slipping.

So much so, in fact, that Dune: Awakening now has fewer players on Steam than Funcom's previous survival game, Conan Exiles. For reference, Conan Exiles launched in early access back in 2017, while Dune: Awakening is a mere five months old – not to mention the latter game's recent update, which addressed issues that made many fans (including myself) quit with features like the Base Backup Tool and more, only just became available to test.

As per SteamDB statistics, Dune: Awakening currently has around 3,995 active players in the game. Its 24-hour peak player count sits at 10,593. On the other hand, the stats for Conan Exiles show about 4,539 players at the moment, with a 24-hour peak of 10,899. Both of these numbers are higher than Dune: Awakening's own, and this seems to have been the case for a little while now. A Reddit thread highlighting the difference proves as much.

The unimaginable has happened and Dune now has fewer active players than Conan from r/duneawakening

"The unimaginable has happened," notes the poster. "I remember two months ago someone foreseeing that Dune would dip below Conan and thinking, 'no way,'" they say. "I expected player numbers to settle around 20k."

Commenters note, "I really wanted to love this game but… I did love it, just not anymore." They add that features like the new Base Backup Tool simply arrived "too late," while another says Dune: Awakening "got boring quick after unlocking the Ornithopter."

Newer Steam reviews show a similar sentiment being shared by players, with its "Mixed" recent rating standing in contrast to its "Mostly Positive" reception overall. "The game I feel has good bones and is entertaining," one writes, but consequences in-game are "too severe," and playing solo simply isn't easy. Others, much like those on Reddit, believe things like the Base Backup Tool should've always been available.

"Love the game," explains one player, "but I hate the base system. I take breaks from games from time to time, and Dune punishes you for that." There are plenty of positive reviews in the mix, too, however – and Conan Exiles isn't exactly miles ahead with its own "Mostly Positive" rating on Steam. It's difficult to tell what this means for Funcom's new survival game, though… especially after the studio's layoffs last month.

Here's hoping the future of Dune: Awakening is brighter, and the MMO sees its player count rise back up ahead of its predecessor's one day. The gap isn't too big, after all, and Funcom is still hard at work with new patches and updates underway.

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