Funcom Fires Employees and Shuts Down Dune: Awakening Developer Studio

The company Funcom, owned by Tencent and the creator of the survival MMO Dune: Awakening, announced significant changes, including employee layoffs and the closure of the developer studio Metal: Hellsinger – The Outsiders. The game Dune: Awakening had a promising start, selling a million copies and becoming the "fastest-selling game in the company's history" in less than two weeks after its release in June. In a layoff statement published on GamesIndustry.biz, Funcom noted that this release marked "the largest in 32 years of creating quality games" and has already shown "incredible potential."

However, the transition from active development to long-term support for the game online, as well as preparations for a major console release next year, require restructuring teams and concentrating resources. Unfortunately, this has led to the necessity of saying goodbye to valued colleagues. The impact of these changes remains uncertain at this time.

The changes have affected the studio The Outsiders. The founder and creative director of the studio, David Goldfarb, reported on the social network Bluesky that all studio employees faced layoffs, and his team will be closed after 10 years of operation. The team is trying to find new ways to continue their activities in a new format. Goldfarb added that changes are always difficult, and everyone is currently going through tough times. Funcom has not provided additional comments regarding the situation.