Dune: Awakening delayed to June, but a 'large-scale beta weekend' is coming next month

Just over a month ahead of its planned release on May 20, a little more sand in our hourglasses will have to fall before we can play the full version of survival MMO Dune Awakening. The game has suffered a minor delay and is now set to arrive three weeks later, on June 10.

"Dune: Awakening is a beast of a game," Funcom wrote. "This is multiplayer survival on a massive scale, and we’re making gameplay and technical strides not seen in the genre before. We want to make sure we stick the landing."

The delay comes amidst an ongoing "persistent closed beta," which Funcom said has been providing "invaluable" feedback from testers over the weeks leading up to the game—and drove the decision to delay it a few weeks.

"We have a very active Discord going with our beta testers where our developers can interact directly with them to ensure we collaboratively make Dune: Awakening a better game," Funcom wrote. "Thanks to this process, we’ve concluded that with a bit more time to cook, we can act on a lot more of the feedback we know is important to our beta testers."

The postponement to June 10 means the five-day "head start" period offered in the deluxe and ultimate editions set for June 5. On the upside, Funcom said the June release will enable it to hold a "large-scale beta weekend" sometime in May, offering even more players the opportunity to check it out ahead of release. Details on that will be released soon.

Ahead of all that, Dune: Awakening developers will hold another livestream later today to showcase the game's combat. That's set to begin at 9 am PT/12 pm ET on YouTube.

In our recent hands-on with Dune: Awakening, PC Gamer editor Joshua Wolens remarked that the game "sounds tense, it sounds complex, it sounds, really, just like Dune."

Dune: Awakening delay message - now set to launch June 10 2025 — (Image credit: Funcom (Bluesky))

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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