Dune: Awakening – A Case Study

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Game Summary

Dune: Awakening is an open-world survival MMO set in the harsh deserts of Arrakis, built within an alternate timeline of Frank Herbert’s iconic Dune universe. Developed by Funcom and scheduled for release on June 10, 2025 (PC first, followed by PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S), the game blends deep survival mechanics, base-building, and large-scale multiplayer interactions.

Facts About the Game

  • Developed by Funcom, creators of Conan Exiles
  • Set in the Dune universe, reimagined as an MMO sandbox
  • Launch date: June 10, 2025 (PC)
  • Features persistent servers, open-world survival, and faction-based warfare

Services Used

  • Incident Management
  • Operational Analytics
  • Release Management

Incident Management

Zumidian provided full NOC (Network Operations Center) ownership, offering uninterrupted 24/7 monitoring of Dune: Awakening’s backend infrastructure. Our team proactively identified and resolved potential issues — often before they reached players. We responded to alerts and logs in real time, neutralizing service disruptions and supporting a seamless gameplay experience.

We also assumed full ownership of runbooks, continuously improving them to reflect evolving systems and edge-case scenarios. From gameplay-impacting service checks to early bug detection, our NOC support kept the sands of Arrakis stable.

Operational Analytics

We delivered live analytics dashboards that offered clear visibility into backend performance and player-impacting metrics. These included:

  • Server and service health
  • Game performance KPIs
  • Alert visualization
  • Gameplay-impacting service latency or errors

These dashboards allowed the development team to monitor live environments, detect anomalies, and make informed decisions rapidly.

Release Management

Zumidian didn’t just assist with releases — we ran them. Our team was fully responsible for deploying game updates and hotfixes, managing the entire release pipeline:

  • Independent Deployments: Executed builds without developer intervention
  • QA Coordination: Performed boot checks in sync with QA teams before going live
  • Post-Deploy Monitoring: Continued oversight to ensure performance stability
  • Release Planning: Scheduled and executed updates, hotfixes, and content launches with minimal player disruption
  • Rollback Strategy: Maintained ready-to-fire rollback plans for critical scenarios
  • Off-Hour Requests: Performed low-impact deploys in the early morning hours based on regional CCU trends

Facts and Figures

MetricValue
Period of time they were a customerClosed Beta – Present (Live Ops Phase)
MTTA (Mean Time to Acknowledge)1m 53s
Total Incidents6528

Value Proposition

Business Value to Customer

  • Enhanced Game Availability and Player Experience: Continuous monitoring kept Dune’s servers resilient during Closed Beta and early live phases.
  • Brand Reputation and Player Retention: Reliable uptime and fast fixes fostered positive community perception.
  • Data-Driven Decision-Making: Dashboards gave developers precise visibility into live metrics.
  • Operational Efficiency: Full ownership of NOC and releases reduced developer load and allowed Funcom to stay focused on feature delivery.

Financial Value to Customer

  • Revenue Protection: Maintained performance and uptime during critical launch periods.
  • Cost Savings: Eliminated the need for internal 24/7 operations staffing.
  • Increased Lifetime Value (LTV): Fewer bugs, faster fixes, and more stable gameplay contributed to higher player retention.
  • Risk Reduction: Reduced operational risk by owning and optimizing deploy workflows.

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