Dune: Awakening Is Finally Removing PvP Areas And Making PvE The Focus
Dune: Awakening, Funcom’s open-world survival game set in Frank Herbert’s sci-fi universe, is undergoing a significant design shift to make player-versus-player (PvP) encounters entirely optional. After spending over a year refining its PvP system, Funcom announced in an April developer update that it is disabling all PvP zones in Hagga Basin and creating separate PvP and PvE instances for endgame players.
Since its summer 2025 launch, the game has faced persistent complaints about mandatory PvP in its endgame content. Players who completed the roughly 60-hour PvE campaign found themselves forced into the Deep Desert zone—populated by hostile players—to secure Spice and other resources necessary for crafting endgame gear and vehicles. This sudden shift from the largely PvE-focused early game created a jarring experience for players who expected to continue progressing as they had been.
The disconnect between the game’s PvE-first approach and its PvP-demanding endgame frustrated many players who felt blindsided by the requirement to risk being killed by other players (‘ganked’) simply to access desired content. Recognizing this fundamental mismatch, Funcom decided to rethink its approach and, as stated in their update, “underline the PvE-first nature of the game.”
The changes represent a substantial pivot from the studio’s original vision and acknowledge that the mandatory PvP system was not working for a significant portion of the playerbase. By making PvP optional and providing separate instances, Funcom aims to preserve choice for players who enjoy competitive combat while allowing PvE-focused players to experience all content without forced encounters.