Dune: Awakening beta weekend release date and times

Even though Dune: Awakening saw a short release date delay, pushing it to June 10, you can still sample the anxiety of a sandworm chase this weekend. Starting tomorrow, Dune: Awakening kicks off a new round of beta tests through the weekend with "much more hardware" than previous closed tests, so here's to hoping there's sufficient infrastructure and plenty of spice to support us all.

We know a lot about the survival sandbox take on Frank Herbert's Dune series, but test runs have historically been far more limited and tight-lipped. Funcom's recent blog post also notes, "unlike previous Betas, this one has no NDA, meaning you can share any info you want with friends, or even stream the game for all to see."

When is the Dune: Awakening beta weekend release date?

The Dune: Awakening beta weekend begins on May 9 and ends on May 12. That gives you four days to explore a limited slice of its starting areas, a journey Funcom estimates will take roughly 20-25 hours. As for more specific windows, we've got the timings broken down by region.

Dune: Awakening beta weekend by timezone

• North America
  • May 9, 8am EDT – May 12, 6pm EDT
  • May 9, 5am PDT – May 12, 3pm PDT
• South America
  • May 9, 9am BRT – May 12, 7pm BRT
• Europe
  • May 9, 2pm CEST – May 13, 12am CEST
• Asia
  • May 9, 9pm JST – May 13, 7am JST

How to get a Dune: Awakening beta key

You can register for the Dune: Awakening beta on Steam, sign up on Funcom's official site, or luck out and score a key during its global LAN broadcast on Twitch. Funcom says it's got "tens of thousands" of beta codes to give away during its marathon stream starting May 10.

We've also spotted Dune: Awakening code giveaways out in the wild, like through Razer's X account or other content creators. Supply goes quick, so do some extra social media lurking if you're antsy.