Barely a Month After Dune: Awakening Hits PS5 and Xbox Series: Why Funcom Is Cutting Staff Again and Replacing Its 22-Year CEO
Less than a month after finally deploying the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of Dune: Awakening on September 22, Norwegian developer Funcom is undergoing another painful corporate shakeup. In an official statement issued on October 19, 2026, the Tencent-owned studio announced an internal restructuring accompanied by studio layoffs and the departure of long-time CEO Rui Casais, who is handing the reins over to Scott Junior.
Peak Production Ends With a Second Wave of Layoffs at Funcom
History is repeating itself with grim precision for Funcom’s development teams. Having already carried out a round of staff reductions in autumn 2025 a few months after Dune: Awakening first launched on PC in June 2025, the studio is once again downsizing its workforce. According to management, completing the console ports and bringing the survival RPG to Xbox Game Pass marks the definitive end of full-scale production.
As the company transitions into long-term live-service operations, leadership stated it can no longer sustain the headcount required during peak development. While Funcom did not disclose the exact number of employees affected, the company confirmed that the restructuring process begins immediately and involves parting ways with staff across its organization.
In the official press release, outgoing CEO Rui Casais addressed the workforce reductions and the shift in studio structure:
"Dune: Awakening has been the biggest project we have ever undertaken, requiring many years of significant development resources across our studios. Moving from full production into long-term post-launch development and operations requires a different organisation. While we would have wanted everyone who helped build Dune: Awakening to continue with us, we cannot sustain the size and structure required during peak development as we move into this next phase. My focus now is ensuring the process is as supportive as possible for everyone affected, and to treat our colleagues with the respect and transparency they deserve."
Rui Casais Steps Down After 22 Years as Scott Junior Takes Over as CEO
Alongside the layoffs, the restructuring triggers a major leadership change at the top of the company. Rui Casais, who has spent 22 years at Funcom including the last 11 years serving as CEO, will officially leave the studio at the end of 2026 once the organizational transition is finalized.
Stepping in as the new Chief Executive Officer is Scott Junior, a 25-year Funcom veteran who most recently served as Chief Product Officer and executive producer overseeing Dune: Awakening’s path to market. Under his leadership, Funcom will narrow its strategic focus toward maintaining and expanding its two core survival pillars: Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles, which recently received its current-gen Enhanced Edition.
"Overseeing the continued growth of Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles is a great responsibility, and I am honored to be entrusted with this mission. My focus will be on ensuring Funcom is organized as optimally as possible to develop these games for many years to come, through adding new content and gameplay features while maintaining close ties with our passionate communities."
From MMO Ambitions to Console Single-Player: Arrakis’s Forced Evolution
The restructuring comes after more than a year of major design pivots for Dune: Awakening. Originally launched on PC in June 2025 as an ambitious blend of survival mechanics and large-scale multiplayer faction warfare across the sands of Arrakis, the game enjoyed a strong initial launch window before struggling with player retention and friction between PvE and PvP audiences.
To broaden its appeal ahead of its PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S debut during the packed September 2026 release schedule, Funcom steadily reshaped the game into a more traditional survival experience. Following the addition of private servers, the September 22 console update introduced a full single-player mode allowing players to survive on Arrakis without mandatory multiplayer interaction. Although Funcom recently celebrated reaching one million new survivors following the console release and day-one inclusion on Xbox Game Pass (Ultimate, Premium, and PC), that player influx was not enough to prevent another round of studio cuts.
My Take: The Brutal Trap of Big-Budget Live-Service Survival Games
My Take: Seeing a studio lay off staff less than four weeks after shipping a major PS5 and Xbox Series X|S port highlights how unforgiving the modern live-service pipeline has become. Studios scale up massively for years to deliver sprawling persistent worlds, betting everything on massive long-term retention. When player habits force an urgent pivot toward private servers, solo modes, and Game Pass subscriptions just to keep the ecosystem alive, the developers who crunched to get the console builds out the door are the first to pay the price. Handing the CEO role to a 25-year veteran like Scott Junior ensures continuity for both Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles, but after two consecutive years of downsizing, players have every right to wonder how fast new endgame expansions will realistically arrive on Arrakis.
SEO consultant for over 20 years and digital entrepreneur, Charles 'Grimtag' Ronchain is the founder of Pro-Gamer.gg, Retrocharting.com, and Gamescharting.com. A competitive gamer, streamer, and retro game collector, he has worked in the video game industry for over 15 years, notably as a consultant for leading game price comparison platforms. Passionate about real-time performance data and gaming technology, he analyzes competitive esports, gaming hardware benchmarks, and creator workflows on Pro-Gamer.gg with an authentic player perspective.
