Funcom is planning staff layoffs as the company shifts its focus exclusively to "Conan Exiles" and "Dune: Awakening"

Norway-based game studio Funcom is undertaking a reorganization as it shifts its focus primarily to the ongoing management of its games, Conan Exiles and Dune: Awakening. This strategic shift has impacted an unspecified number of employees. Rui Casais, who has been the CEO for over a decade and navigated the company through its 2020 acquisition by Tencent, is set to step down at the end of the year. He will be succeeded by Scott Junior, the current Chief Product Officer.

Casais described the venture into Dune: Awakening as the most extensive project Funcom has handled to date, requiring significant resource allocation over several years. Transitioning to the next stage—post-launch management—necessitates changes in organizational structure. Despite wanting to retain all contributors to Dune: Awakening, the current scale for peak development cannot be maintained. Casais stated his priority is to ensure the transition is handled with care and transparency for those who are affected.

With Funcom for 22 years, Casais started as a junior programmer, as detailed in his 2018 interview with GamesIndustry.biz. Junior, Casais's successor, has a 25-year tenure at the company and was most recently Executive Producer for Dune: Awakening.

According to a press statement, this restructuring aims to ensure that Funcom remains dedicated to advancing and developing Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles. There is a commitment to invest in these titles and their player base for the foreseeable future. Notably, Conan Exiles recently saw its Enhanced edition release, which Funcom plans to continue expanding.

The restructuring includes downsizing the organization, which will unfortunately mean losing some valued team members. Funcom intends to withhold additional specifics about the process to respect the affected staff.

Following Dune: Awakening's launch, the firm executed layoffs in October 2025, marking the largest launch in its 32-year history. Additionally, Funcom ended operations at The Outsiders, a Swedish studio known for Metal: Hellsinger, which Funcom had acquired in 2021.

In the same period, Funcom acquired the Conan IP through the purchase of Cabinet Group, gaining rights to additional IPs like Solomon Kane and Mutant Year Zero, managed by Funcom's Heroic Signatures subsidiary. The firm noted that after its 2018 release, Conan Exiles recovered its development costs in five days, becoming one of Funcom's most successful and frequently played titles.

Tencent's Yong-yi Zhu previously commented on Funcom's affinity for service games, emphasizing that support for such projects is a shared goal. Over the last year and a half, Tencent has shown increased involvement with its studios, including Funcom, and has divested interests in companies such as Secret Mode, Splash Damage, and Bulkhead.

Scott Junior expressed anticipation for advancing the growth of Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles, prioritizing organizational strategies to enhance these games over time with fresh content, while maintaining strong ties with their communities. “We are incredibly proud of the games we have built and excited about what comes next," he remarked.