Dune: Awakening developers Funcom have announced plans to lay off an unspecified number of workers, citing the same need to “restructure” that’s essentially become a byword for games industry job cuts at this point.
In a statement given to GamesIndustry.biz, the company outline plans to “restructure our teams and focus our resources from across projects and studios”, which they say is required due to “the transition from development to long-term live operation, while also building towards a major console release next year”.
“Unfortunately, this also means having to say goodbye to cherished colleagues,” Funcom continued. “This difficult process is starting now, and we cannot yet determine the exact impact. We are working to find new opportunities for those affected. Our focus now is to provide these team members with the support and guidance they need, and we ask for your understanding at this time as we will not make further comments during this process.”
The statement from Funcom made sure to emphasise that Dune Awakening, the MMO their staff brought into into the world back in June, was “the biggest release we’ve had in our 32-year long history” and “has already shown incredible potential”. It’ll still be getting new additions and tweaks via updates going forwards.
It’ll never stop being sigh-inducing to see companies big up themselves and their prospects in one line, before essentially deploying a ‘but, sadly, we’ve got to boot these folks who’ve helped make it happen out of their livelihoods’ in the next.
Despite running into some glitches, our Brendy wrote the following of Dune Awakening in his review:
Awakening is dense with lore, and loyal to the childlike ‘sand is lava’ flavours of Dune. I’ve enjoyed it for the strength of its world, and I admire how straightforwardly Funcom have adapted the memorable features of Herbert’s fiction in exactly the most sensible way. If you walked out of the cinema after the Dune movies of recent years only to have your thoughts and dreams peppered with imagery from those films, then this is probably one of the best ways to visit and inhabit that distant desert. Just so long as you acknowledge, going in, that you’ll be doing a lot more rock mining, water farming, and unexpected laughing than Timothee ever did.
Our best to the Funcom staff affected by these layoffs.
