Norwegian video game developer Funcom - known for Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, and The Secret world - has announced a new partnership with Legendary Studios which will result in a series of games based on Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi franchise DUNE.
The six-year partnership calls for the release of "at least" three titles that will be released across PC and consoles. It's still far too early for exact details, but Funcom has already confirmed that one of the games will fit the "Open World Multiplayer" genre. It will enter pre-production sometime in 2019 at Funcom's Oslo studio.
“Funcom has a strong history of working with beloved sci-fi/fantasy intellectual properties including our bestsellers Age of Conan and Conan Exiles,” said Funcom CEO, Rui Casais. “So many of us at Funcom, myself included, are huge fans of Frank Herbert’s work and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with Legendary to bring the iconic DUNE universe to life for gamers all over the globe.”
The announcement comes as Legendary gears up for production on the feature film adaptation of Dune, which will be directed by the critically acclaimed filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049). Dune is slated to hit theaters on November 20, 2010. It's doubtful that the open world multiplayer game will be ready in time for a simultaneous launch.
Dune doesn't have the greatest history when it comes to video games. In 2001, Cryo Interactive attempted to put out Frank Herbert's Dune, a PlayStation 2 game based on the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries of the same name. It was both a critical and commercial failure that ultimately doomed Cryo Interactive, which went bankrupt after the game's release in Europe.
Let's hope Funcom has better success with the franchise.