Funcom, the publisher behind Conan Exiles, has revealed it’s just signed an exclusive deal with Legendary Entertainment to create games based in Frank Herbert’s iconic sci-fi universe Dune.
Last time a publisher signed an exclusive deal with the custodians of a popular sci-fi universe it didn’t go terribly well, but I’m sure this will be different. I hope this will be different.
Man, if we get an online FPS set in the Dune universe that’s full of microtransactions I am gonna be so mad.
Funcom CEO Rui Casais revealed that 2018 was the most profitable year in the company’s history, with revenue, cash flow, earnings and – I assume – spirits all up.
Casais said:
We are very excited to announce an exclusive gaming partnership with Legendary Entertainment to develop a line of video games based on the works of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Dune is one of the world’s best-known science fiction universes and a personal favorite of mine. To work on Dune games is a dream come true for many of us in Funcom.
Funcom later revealed that the six year deal will produce a minimum of three games, one of which is to be an online multiplayer adventure which I imagine will be similar to Conan Exiles, which was (and is) a pretty good game.
There have been a number of Dune games over the years, the most recent of which was released way, way back in 2001. There was also a pretty cool Dune mod for Civilization IV, but it’s been a while since we’ve had anything official.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.