Funcom, Dune: Awakening's developer, has gone on the record, calling the Xbox Series S port of the game "a challenge." Dune: Awakening has shown plenty of potential in several areas. The gameplay could provide a chance for gamers to immerse themselves in the world's dynamics, while the visual fidelity of the trailers show a commitment to pulling off the look of Arrakis with few compromises to artistic vision. Although Awakening is the first Dune game Funcom has developed, it previously published Dune: Spice Wars.

In August, Funcom set a 2025 release window for Dune: Awakening on PC, but the announcement carried a measure of notable disappointment for console gamers since that launch window was left up in the air. Still, plenty of fans were hyped to get a clear look at what Dune: Awakening is set to offer. The open-world MMO experience set in the Dune universe looks to be an ambitious release, but it has faced some difficulties.

Dune: Awakening chief product officer Scott Junior tells VG247 that "Xbox Series S is a challenge," which brings insight into what could be taking the console release so long. Junior states that the Xbox platform as a whole requires a lot of optimization, explaining that this is why PC has been prioritized, suggesting that the process has been significantly easier. It appears that fans who want to experience Dune: Awakening on their consoles will have to wait a bit longer.

This is not the first time the Xbox platform has been cited as a source of frustration for developers. Rocksteady's Lee Devonald expressed annoyance at the rule that releases must target both the Series X and S consoles, zeroing in on the idea that the weaker GPU of the Series S is a potential limit that makes development more difficult. In cases like these, developers may have to consider various "tradeoffs" for their release, such as Baldurs Gate 3's removal of a split screen mode in the Series S version.

This is not the only narrative at play, however, and Dune: Awakening may not suffer the same exact kinds of setbacks. Baldurs Gate 3 developer Swen Vincke disagrees with the notion that the Series S is holding back consoles, stating that the key factor at play is actually "development effort." The amount of time developers have to complete a project and the amount of members available to help with the task can define the execution of a release, and Funcom appears to be implementing that reasoning in its approach by having console players wait a little bit longer.

Posted: Sep 07, 2024 10:36 pm
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: https://gamerant.com/dune-awakening-xbox-series-s-development-challenge-dev-comment/