Dune: Awakening on Xbox Series S will be a "challenge", developer says
"There's a lot of optimisations we need to do."
Funcom - the developer behind Dune: Awakening - has admitted that getting the game ready for Microsoft's lower-powered Xbox Series S will be a "challenge".
Speaking with Connor Makar from VG247, Dune: Awakening's chief product officer Scott Junior said "there's a lot of optimisations we need to do before we release on the Xbox". He noted this is "one of the reasons we're coming out on PC first".
As revealed last month, Dune: Awakening will debut on PC early next year, however console versions for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are yet to secure a release date. But, if you are keen to give Dune: Awakening a go on your Series S, don't worry just yet. Later in the conversation, Junior said the Dune: Awakening team would "be able to do it", and work was progressing.
Funcom is not the only developer to admit that the Series S has added an extra layer of challenge during development. Baldur's Gate 3 famously released several months later on Xbox due to difficulties with split screen co-op on the less powerful Series S console.
More recently, former Naughty Dog and Rocksteady developer Del Walker said he wished "the Series S never existed", calling the console "annoying to optimise for" (although he did not specify any games within this post).
As for Dune: Awakening, our deputy editor Chris Tapsell went hands-on with the survival MMO earlier this year, when he also spoke with Funcom's chief creative officer and the game's creative director Joel Bylos.
Funcom then followed up specifically on how Dune: Awakening will deal with religion, following concern from the Dune community.