Funcom is trimming headcount once again as it narrows its entire operation to live-service work on Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles. CEO Rui Casais, who has been with the company 22 years and led it for the last 11, will step down at the end of 2026 and hand the reins to Chief Product Officer Scott Junior. The restructuring follows Dune: Awakening’s PC launch in June 2025 and console release last month, which the studio called its biggest in 32 years; a similar round of cuts and the closure of The Outsiders studio already happened in October 2025.

Casais stated that the shift from peak production to ongoing post-launch operations “requires a different organization” and that the team cannot sustain its former size. Funcom has not disclosed how many positions are affected or which departments, noting only that details will come after the process concludes out of respect for those involved. Incoming CEO Scott Junior, a 25-year veteran who previously ran live ops on Conan Exiles and served as executive producer on Dune: Awakening, is expected to keep both titles in active development with new content planned for years ahead.

Tencent-owned Funcom has now completed two rounds of reductions in roughly 12 months while consolidating around its two surviving survival titles. The pattern is familiar across the industry: large development teams built for launches are being dismantled once the heavy lifting is finished and the work settles into the slower, cheaper rhythm of live service. No further expansion beyond these two games is mentioned.