Funcom, the game publisher behind the various Conan games of late, has recently announced a new partnership with Legendary Studios to develop more Dune games.
Posted in the investors portal, Funcom announced that they’ve acquired the rights to Dune, the Frank Herbert novel. The partnership will last six years, with “at least three titles on the PC/Console platforms.” They confirmed that one of the titles will be an open world multiplayer game that will enter into pre-production in Funcom’s Oslo studio sometime this year. the remaining two titles were left unsaid.
“Entering into this partnership is in line with the company’s strategy of working with strong Intellectual Properties, allowing for two different vast and well known universes – CONAN and DUNE – to be available for the Company’s games.”
Funcom Investor Relations
Why This Has Us Excited
Depending on how long you’ve been in the RTS world, you might remember Dune 2: The Building of a Dynasty (renamed to Dune II: Battle for Arrakis in Europe and Dune: The Battle for Arrakis for the North American Mega Drive/Genesis port). While it wasn’t the first RTS made, it was a massive success, which would go on to affect the genre as a while, influencing games like Command & Conquer, StarCraft, and more.
We also happen to know that Funcom is interested in more RTS games. They recently announced Conan Unconquered, an RTS based on the Conan universe.
All of the pieces are in place for either a modern remake of the Dune RTS or for a sequel/successor. Stay tuned as the story develops.
I think the first Dune RTS I ever played was like 25 years ago on the SEGA Genesis. It then lead me to play Command & Conquer. The Dune RTS back then was like a 2D top down style game, it was hella fun though.