Funcom's Dune game was already a pretty ambitious project, and now it's about to get a whole lot bigger: Tencent's recent investment in the company has "emboldened" the developers to make this upcoming title bigger and better.
Back in 2019, Conan Exiles developer Funcom made the announcement that it had secured a partnership to produce a Dune game. Essentially, the company is aiming to make "a more ambitious and robust version of Conan Exiles set in the Dune universe," although it will likely be a few years before we'll actually get to play it.
The success of Conan Exiles and the company's other projects attracted the attention of Tencent which offered to invest in the company — an offer that Funcom eventually accepted at a company valuation of $201 million. Now, that massive Tencent investment is going to fuel the creative fire behind the upcoming Dune game.
Funcom's Dune Game Will 'Increase the Quality and Scope'
As MMOs.com reports, Funcom CEO Rui Casais released a Holiday Letter that reflects on the previous year for the company while detailing its plans for future content. Aside from mentioning that there are currently two unannounced titles in development, Funcom has also said that the Dune game is about to get much bigger.
"With Tencent now backing us, we are emboldened to drive forward our ambition in the multiplayer survival genre and increase the quality and scope of this game." –Funcom CEO Rui Casais
"And of course, there is also our upcoming Dune survival game," read the 2020 Holiday Letter from Funcom. "It was already an ambitious project when we first announced it last year, but the scope has expanded further during pre-production. With Tencent now backing us, we are emboldened to drive forward our ambition in the multiplayer survival genre and increase the quality and scope of this game. This is the major reason for why we’ve added people to our workforce this year and for why are actively looking to expand much further in the coming year, with more than 50 positions currently open worldwide and more to come in 2021."
Expanding the scope of a game can always be a worrying prospect — a game that tries to do too much too quickly can end up doing a lot of things very badly. Worse, a company could overextend its budget and/or push back its release date by trying to add new features, so a move like this has to be very carefully considered.
That said, Casais seems optimistic about the future of Funcom's Dune game, as are many longtime fans of the franchise. With the Dune movie expected to arrive in October 2021, it looks like the next couple of years are going to be great for fans of classic sci-fi.
What do you think about Funcom's Dune game expanding its scope? What are your expectations for this game? Let us know in the comments below!
