Dune Awakening devs: “No private servers at launch” but “could” be done after

We spoke to Dune Awakening’s Creative Director, Joel Bylos, about the upcoming survival MMO. After playing the game for an hour and exploring Hagga Basin, our conversation touched on the server situation for the game. Funcom’s main title aside from the Arrakis MMO is Conan Exiles which, running since 2018, notably supports dedicated servers.

We first discussed what the server structure is going to look like at launch: “We have multiple servers on a farm,” Bylos said. “The map you played yesterday, Hagga Basin, so there’s multiple versions of it that players can join. Then you go into the social hub, then you go into the deep desert which is kind of the end-game.”

I then asked specifically about private servers themselves, and if players are going to have the chance to set up dedicated servers. Bylos confirmed one of the community’s main concerns. “No private servers at launch, definitely going to stick to the officials.” This is going to be disappointing news at a first glance, though the Creative Director did allege to a future possibility of renting out dedicated servers.

“We could do a thing where we rent out servers, so [players] can have their own private version. In terms of the game balance, and how the end-game plays out, we probably wouldn’t allow people the modifications in Conan Exiles.”

Although it’s far from a confirmation that they will arrive, it sounds like Funcom is open to the idea and might have already discussed it.

Part of the reason players are insistent on finding out if games offer up private server hosting or not is due to the possibility of access being shut down if the game is discontinued or the developers fold. On an unrelated note to this particular line of conversation, Bylos also mentioned that that “[Funcom] will keep it running for as long as we can. I mean, we’ve had a game running (Anarchy Online) since 2001. So, we’ll just keep adding stuff to it.”

In terms of Conan Exiles’ dedicated servers, rent prices are roughly £10 per month for ten slots. This is done through a third-party host (G-Portal), though there’s no evidence that Funcom will rely on the same model for the Dune MMO.

Don’t be fooled by the swathes of server hosting sites offering Dune: Awakening server hosting just yet. These listings are placeholders in preparation for the game’s launch.

Realistically, the notion of private or dedicated servers doesn’t seem too far-fetched. Despite being an MMO, Dune Awakening’s emphasis is primarily PVE. Funcom has already been transparent with its philosophy that PVP isn’t necessary in the game at all, and so the idea of post-end-game server hosting makes a lot of sense really.