Dune: Awakening makes PvP options optional and shifts focus to PvE

Dune: Awakening, the open-world survival game set in Frank Herbert’s legendary sci-fi universe, has announced that players can now fully choose whether they take part in player-versus-player (PvP) combat. The decision follows a wave of player feedback from those who felt overwhelmed by the PvP requirements in the endgame at launch in summer 2025.

The shift to PvE

At release, the endgame required players to enter the dangerous Deep Desert map, where they faced hostile players while gathering Spice and other resources to craft powerful gear and vehicles. Although the first 60 hours of gameplay were almost entirely focused on PvE, many players found the sudden shift to PvP confusing, especially given their earlier experience in the game.

Funcom, the developer of Dune: Awakening, has already made several post-launch adjustments, including creating PvE areas on the Deep Desert map. Even so, the studio now plans to make PvE the game’s main focus. Research showed that as many as 80% of players were exclusively interested in PvE content, prompting Funcom to rethink its approach.

Highlighted changes

As part of this shift, Dune: Awakening will soon become PvE-first by removing all PvP zones from the main Hagga Basin map and splitting the Deep Desert endgame area into separate PvE and PvP versions. That means players will be able to hunt for Spice or explore Imperial Testing Stations without constantly worrying about hostile attacks. For players who do enjoy the adrenaline of PvP, however, a dedicated arena will be available to test their skills and earn attractive rewards.

While the PvP zones will offer a 2.5x resource yield bonus, there will still be benefits tied to PvP combat. The exact date for these changes has not yet been confirmed, but they will arrive in patch 1.3.20.0, which is set to appear soon on the game’s public test client.

Self-hosted servers and further expansions

Alongside the PvP changes, Funcom has also announced that self-hosted servers are in development. These will let players host their own servers for friends or communities, with the ability to adjust various settings such as harvest rates and the durability of items and bases. Players will be able to transfer their existing characters to private servers, with the caveat that they cannot be moved back to official servers. Funcom will not charge for self-hosting servers, though players may still incur costs from their internet provider.

Outlook

Dune: Awakening is currently available on PC only, with a console version announced for this summer. The game’s most recent Chapter 3 update, released in February, further expanded the main story and introduced new endgame PvE options, as well as additional layers of character progression such as Specializations and Augmentations.