Dune Awakening Crossplay Will Be Limited to XBOX, Disappointing Fans

At yesterday's Playstation State of Play, Funcom announced Dune: Awakening is finally coming to consoles on September 22nd, but the crossplay options, or lack thereof, have left fans bewildered.

Dune: Awakening will be coming to Playstation 5 and XBOX Series X|S, but to the disappointment of many Dune fans, Funcom has revealed there will be no cross-play between PC and consoles or different console platforms, only between XBOX and Windows PC store users.

Dune: Awakening Console Launch Announced With Limited Cross-play

Along with the long-awaited console launch, Dune: Awakening is also getting a single-player mode, which Funcom says has been one of the most-requested features since the game launched.

This new single-player mode will give players the ability to explore the deep desert end-game content without being bombarded by spice-crazed PVP players, and enjoy Dune: Awakening's cinematic storytelling in peace, just in time for the next major story expansion. "Dune: Awakening launched with Acts 1 and 2. Chapter 2 added Act 3 and part of Act 4. Chapter 3 completed Act 4. On September 22nd, the final Act arrives, bringing the Book One story to a dramatic conclusion. Get ready for many more hours of cinematic storytelling."

Here's how Dune: Awakening's single-player mode will work:

• All NPCs are still present.
• The Deep Desert content and challenges are still available, and the map will never reset.
• Your buildings are never wiped.
• The Coriolis Storm is less destructive.
• The landsraad endgame simulates other players.

New Game Customization Options

Funcom is going all-out to ensure Dune fans can experience the finale of Book One in many different ways, as a long list of game customization options and scalable difficulty settings have been announced.

Single-player mode, self-hosted servers, and rented private servers will soon be able to customize the following settings:

• Enable or disable sandstorms
• Make Hagga Basin fully PvP or fully PvE
• Resource harvesting rate multipliers
• Experience points rate multipliers
• Change base building piece limits
• Item durability settings
• Base decay rate
• Sandworm auto-spawn
• Coriolis storm auto-spawn
• Adjust what drops on death
• Increase the maximum number of land claims

It's been almost a year since Dune: Awakening launched, and in that time, Funcom has transformed the game with the help of the Dune community, making huge changes including the introduction of PVE-only deep desert option, the removal of base taxes, and a fully redesigned landsraad.

The deep desert was undeniably the biggest thorn in Funcom's side, but it looks like they may finally have figured out a way to make everyone happy (minus the lack of crossplay options).

"To us at Funcom, September 22nd is more than a console launch. It is a milestone for the new and improved Dune: Awakening. New console players and both new and returning PC players alike will land on Arrakis with access to everything added and improved since PC launch, plus everything arriving in September."

The unfortunate reality is that many Dune fans were waiting for this announcement to come, excited about the opportunity to finally play with their friends on various platforms, but this announcement has many members of the Dune community in disbelief, as the title of one Reddit thread suggests this is, "One of the worst decisions they've made so far."

The console version will be available with XBOX Game Pass, is fully enabled for XBOX Play Anywhere, and will include two graphics modes, an optimized UI, and controls. Both PC and console players will now be able to play through the full story of Book One from start to finish, and Funcom states, "This will be the best version of Dune: Awakening yet. Not just a great Open World Survival game, but the ultimate gateway into one of science fiction’s most iconic worlds."