Funcom Layoffs: Dune Awakening Studio Restructures, CEO Steps Down

Did you hear the news about Funcom? The studio behind Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles just announced a major restructuring that includes layoffs and a change at the top. CEO Rui Casais will be stepping down once the reorganisation wraps up.

The move comes as Funcom shifts its focus entirely to supporting its existing survival RPGs. In a statement, Casais explained that Dune: Awakening was "the biggest project we have ever undertaken, requiring many years of significant development resources across our studios." Now that the game has moved from full production into long-term post-launch development and operations, he said it "requires a different organisation."

Casais acknowledged the tough reality: "While we would have wanted everyone who helped build Dune: Awakening to continue with us, we cannot sustain the size and structure required during peak development as we move into this next phase." He added that his focus is on ensuring the process is as supportive as possible for those affected, treating colleagues with respect and transparency.

Dune: Awakening launched in June last year and was a big hit, selling a million copies in two weeks to become Funcom's fastest-selling game ever. But the longer-term picture is murkier. Player counts dropped substantially in the months after release, and the game's PvP elements and faction-based endgame got a mixed response from the community. Funcom already had a round of layoffs in October last year, and last month it overhauled the game to pivot away from its MMO elements, adding solo play and PvE exclusive modes (though competitive multiplayer is still supported).

Meanwhile, Conan Exiles also got a substantial upgrade this year, with a new engine, a major paid expansion, and an "enhanced endowment slider" for fancier player-character genitals. Now that both reworks are complete, Funcom's plan seems to be to rest on its games for the foreseeable future. Chief Creative Officer Joel Bylos told GamesIndustry last month that the studio is "not ready to start a new game" and that future projects were just "wispy thoughts in the back of our heads."

Funcom didn't share how many employees are affected, but said the restructuring "begins now" and that it won't share additional details until after the process concludes "out of respect for the employees involved." Once the reorganisation is complete, Rui Casais will be succeeded by Scott Junior, Funcom's Chief Product Officer and Executive Producer on Dune Awakening.

So what does this mean for the future of Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles? Will the smaller team be able to keep the games thriving? Only time will tell. What do you think about Funcom's restructuring? Let us know in the comments!