Classic sci-fi novel Dune is due a bit of a revival in the next few years. Not only is it set for a big-budget 2020 Hollywood re-imaging at the hands of Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve, but it's now been reported that we'll get a series of new games based on the property, too.
Funcom, the company behind Conan Exiles, has signed a six year deal with Legendary Studios (a division of Legendary Entertainment, which owns the film and television rights to Dune) which will see it make "at least" three new games set in Frank Herbert's wild science fiction universe.
The games will span both PC and consoles, and while specific details have yet to be revealed, pre-production is said to have started on an open-world multiplayer Dune title – which sounds as though it could be not unlike survival title Conan Exiles.
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A new Dune strategy title?
The Dune series has been no stranger to game adaptations in the past, from the sublime 1993 strategy title Dune 2, to the woeful 2001 PS2 game Frank Herbert's Dune.
What's particularly intriguing about the announcement is that Funcom had recently paired up with developer Petroglyph to publish real-time strategy title Conan Unconquered, a barbaric take on the army-marshalling genre. Petroglyph's staff has a number of former Westworld Studios developers working for it – the strategy titans who put out not only Command and Conquer but, wouldn't you know it, Dune 2. It wouldn't seem much a stretch to assume one of the three titles in the works is also a strategy title.
With its giant sandworms, kooky factions and epic, space-faring story line, the Dune novels are ripe for adaptation across multiple genres – it's a series that could be taken almost anywhere with a bit of imagination.
