If you’ve taken even two steps outside over the last week, you’ve probably noticed that hype surrounding the Dune franchise is reaching an all-time high following the release of Dune: Part Two.
The sequel film broke the mark that the first Dune film set back in 2021, with numbers from its initial weekend being reported in the range of around $80 million in ticket sales. And even beyond the box office, the Dune franchise is continuing to make an impact in the gaming world, with one of the most recognizable and accessible games set in the film’s world—Dune: Spice Wars—currently in the midst of a comeback tour.
The real-time strategy game is posting its biggest player count since its release last September, with its peak in the last few days sitting at just under 1,800 concurrent players, according to Steam data and stats tracker Steamcharts. This period marks the first time since the game’s launch that over 1,000 players were playing the game at any given time.
Spice Wars’ average player numbers over the last 30 days (which are markedly affected by the Dune franchise’s recent success over the last five days) are up, too. According to Steamcharts, the game’s average player count is up by 23.82 percent in comparison to February.
It’s not unusual for games to experience upticks in popularity when a new piece of media is added to the franchise. We saw a similar phenomenon take place in 2022 when Cyberpunk 2077 had a temporary boost in players after the release of Cyberpunk Edgerunners on Netflix.
Spice Wars is, really, the only modern game to exist in the Dune universe (we’re not calling it the Duniverse, so stop asking), which is likely why it’s seeing so much streamlined success from gamers who are looking to extend themselves into Arakkis, even after their near-three-hour experience in the theater comes to a close.
A new game set in the world of Dune, titled Dune Awakening, is currently in development by Funcom. The game will be an open-world survival MMO that “combines the grit and creativity of sandbox survival games with the social interactivity of a large, persistent multiplayer game,” according to the developer. A new trailer for Dune Awakening, called “Survie Arrakis,” was revealed earlier today.
Dune: Part Two has opened to massive success across the world, with ticket sales for the opening weekend of the film rivaling that of last summer’s Oppenheimer/Barbie fanfare. Should the film continue to sell tickets at even a moderate pace, there’s a possibility it could be the first billion-dollar film of 2024.
