Possibly one of the more out of left-field announcements this year is yesterday’s news that NUKKLEAR GmbH and Funcom are working on a new online multiplayer survival title based on Frank Herbert’s Dune.

The developers at Funcom had actually secured rights to make a game based on the sci-fi franchise back in 2019 and with the recent success of Denis Villeneuve’s newly release Dune film, it seems like there couldn’t be a better time to put those rights to use.

Taking some inspiration from Funcom’s most successful title, Conan Exiles, Dune will also follow the same kind of survival gameplay. With monetary help from Tencent and development assistance from NUKKLEAR, this title is shaping up to be a pretty large game in scope.

"As the Dune open-world survival game is the most ambitious project we’ve ever undertaken at Funcom, having skilled and reliable partners is an absolute must. With NUKKLEAR we have just that. We’ve benefited particularly from their expertise in vehicular-based gameplay, but I know them as highly skilled and creative game developers in general," said Rui Casais, Funcom CEO.

Currently, there isn’t a set release window nor an announced set of gaming platforms that this new title will release on.