After the detailed insight during Opening Night Live, here are some more sobering words about Dune: Awakening. As Scott Junior, Chief Product Officer at Funcom, explains in an interview, the development of the console version is facing technical hurdles. Funcom is not alone in its concerns. Other companies have also voiced criticism.
In an interview with VG247, Scott Junior spoke about the difficulties of bringing Dune: Awakening to the Xbox Series S. The graphically intensive world of Arrakis demands a lot from the hardware. Junior emphasized that the Xbox Series S is a real challenge, especially because of the performance and optimization requirements.
“It’s one of the reasons why we’re releasing the game on PC first. There are a lot of optimizations we have to do before we can release it on the Xbox Series S,” Junior explained. He pointed out that the team is working hard to optimize Dune: Awakening for different hardware configurations. Even older graphics cards should be able to support the game with acceptable performance.
The Xbox Series S: A problem child for many developers
Whoever wants to publish a game for the latest Xbox generation faces a technical challenge. This is because Microsoft has stipulated that such titles should not only be released for the powerful Xbox Series X, but also for the weaker Series S. Remedy and Larian have already expressed their displeasure about this in the past. Game Science is also said to be struggling with the problem when porting Black Myth: Wukong.
The fact that Funcom is now also experiencing this problem with Dune: Awakening gives us hope that Microsoft will once again only focus on one console for the next Xbox generation. This should not only benefit the studios, but also the fans. After all, they have recently gone through a rollercoaster of emotions with their platform
Opening Night Live shows first gameplay for Dune: Awakening
During this year’s Opening Night LiveFuncom shared a comprehensive look atDune: Awakening For the first time, fans were able to see how players can fight for survival in the unforgiving desert world of Arrakis and evolve from simple survivor to influential guild master
This first public look at the gameplay mechanics ofDune: Awakeningillustrates the immense scale and depth of the game. From exploration of the vast desert landscapes to dynamic guild versus guild battles with vehicles and special forces, the title aims to provide an intense and immersive experience. Visitors to Gamescom also had the opportunity to watch 30 minutes of additional gameplay and thus gain an even deeper insight into the game world
Dune: Awakeningwill initially be released for PC in 2025. This will be followed by a release for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
