Dune Awakening Gains 1M New Players After Console Launch
Funcom took a risk bringing Dune Awakening to consoles. Based on the first week, the bet appears to be working.
The studio says more than a million new players have entered the game over the past seven days. That is a big number for any survival MMO, and bigger still for one that started life on PC. PC players who have been waiting on the sidelines also get a nudge: Dune Awakening is 50% off on Steam until October 8th.
That headline leads a busy week across the wider multiplayer scene, so here is the rest of it.
Halloween season is in full swing
October means seasonal events, and several games have dated theirs.
Lord of the Rings Online is doing something unexpected this year. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is coming to Middle-earth for Halloween. Few people would have predicted that crossover, and it lands as players are already preparing for the Wolves of Mordor expansion.
Star Wars: The Old Republic has published its October lineup, which covers three events:
- Feast of Prosperity
- Bounty Contract Week
- All Worlds Ultimate Swoop Rally
Pokemon Pokopia is also getting ready for spooky season. Its Halloween event runs from October 17 through November 1.
Updates, patches and new content
Warhammer 40K: Darktide has released Depths of the Damned, a free update that adds a new mission, new weapons and a Hive boss.
Past Fate shipped Patch 0.6.3. According to the developers, the update further improves combat mechanics and adds a talent system that unlocks once players reach level 5. It also brings new exploration points of interest and visual improvements to the game world.
Satisfactory has announced its next major expansion, the Core Values update. Players will head underground on the planet MASSAGE 2(A-B)b and work through a brand new story beneath its surface.
Valheim, which the source describes as a newly launched survival RPG, has a fan-made mod worth knowing about. It adds four customizable seasons, each with its own look and gameplay effects. Winter freezes water and brings ice floes. Weather, raids, lighting and trader stock all change with the season, there is a special spring grass, and the creator promises minimal impact on FPS.
Space strategy MMO OGame has introduced Project Orion, and Monster Hunter Outlanders has a launch date of October 29th.
Studio news and legal trouble
Not every story this week was good news for players. A group working on a Tera Classic rogue server received a cease-and-desist letter from Krafton demanding that the project be taken down.
There was also some interesting history on Bethesda's side. Elder Scrolls Online is apparently the reason the company never expanded on Skyrim with something like a spin-off game. That says a lot about how much weight the online game carries inside the studio, especially after the hard road its developers have described since recent layoffs.
Bungie used the week to calm fans about Marathon. "We want to be clear, Extraction is still a major part of Marathon, and we're also going to continue updating it as we look to the future of the game," the studio said.
Finally, for collectors: JOYTOY has partnered with Blizzard Entertainment on a new line of Warcraft action figures. The range will focus on the franchise's best-known heroes and races.
Our Take
The Dune Awakening figure is the story here. A million new players in a week suggests there is still a large audience for PC-born survival MMOs on consoles, provided the game is ready for it. Funcom has largely been a PC studio, so this is a meaningful result.
The real test comes later. Launch-week surges are common, and the harder question is how many of those players are still around a month from now. It is also worth watching whether the Steam discount brings in PC players at the same time, and what that combined crowd does to servers and the in-game economy.
The Tera Classic takedown is a reminder of something else. Fans want old games back, but publishers still hold the keys. Between that and Bungie having to publicly defend Marathon's core mode, this week showed how much player trust shapes the business of online games.