The open world survival game based on Dune will be developed by German studio NUKKLEAR alongside Funcom, as the two companies revealed today in a joint press release.
NUKKLEAR recently released the helicopter shooter Comanche, published by THQ Nordic. They also worked on UI/UX design for the Destroy All Humans! remake, collaborated with ROCKFISH Games on the first Everspace, and are also credited for contributing to Project Cars Go.
Additionally, NUKKLEAR (based in Hanover) received €1.6 million by the BMVI (Bundesministerium für Verkehr und Digitale Infrastruktur) as part of the “Computerspieleförderung des Bundes” German Federal Government Grant. This fund will be used to support the studio's production on this project.
Kirk Lenke, CEO of NUKKLEAR, stated:
We’re grateful to Funcom for bringing us on to help bring Dune to a new audience. We’ve supported and collaborated on many projects over the years, but taking on Dune is by far the biggest yet. Our team welcomes the challenge and is confident in the expertise that NUKKLEAR brings to the table.
Funcom CEO Rui Casais added:
As the Dune open-world survival game is the most ambitious project we’ve ever undertaken at Funcom, having skilled and reliable partners is an absolute must. With NUKKLEAR we have just that. We’ve benefited particularly from their expertise in vehicular based gameplay, but I know them as highly skilled and creative game developers in general.
As you may remember from our previous reports, Funcom announced to have licensed the Dune IP for gaming adaptations back in 2019. Then, after the company got acquired by Tencent, the scope of the upcoming open world survival game significantly expanded, which eventually led the Norwegian company to seek help.
Of course, with the first movie in the new Dune adaptation widely regarded as one of the best films released this year, the mainstream hype for the franchise is at an all-time high. With Dune: Part Two currently scheduled to hit theaters on October 20th, 2023, it is likely that Funcom and NUKKLEAR will do their utmost to launch this game as close as possible to that.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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