Dune Awakening will have "no in-game monetization of any kind," devs reassure

Modified Mar 27, 2025 13:02 IST

Dune monetization — Good news for Dune Awakening fans, as there are no plans for major in-game monetization (Image via Funcom)

Dune Awakening’s recent livestream has given fans a great deal of hope with regard to the game's monetization. As a buy-to-play game, there was certainly fear that the title would be loaded down with in-game monetization to help make a profit. However, according to the developers, that is not going to happen.

If you’re worried about some kind of battle pass, or something similar, that’s not in the cards for the Dune Awakening monetization system. There will be free updates to the game, and optional, paid DLC, but that's as far as the monetization system goes as of now.

Dune Awakening is a buy-to-play game with no in-game monetization at all

When Dune Awakening launches, not only will it not launch in Early Access, but it also won’t contain frustrating in-game monetization. This is an issue that has plagued the online gaming community for some time now — whether it’s Battle Passes, expensive cosmetics, or even games that are purely pay-to-win — it’s refreshing to see that this won’t be the case for Funcom’s upcoming survival MMO.

(Information begins at 2:03:42)

During the first Dune livestream, Natascha (Senior PR Manager), Ole Andreas (Lead Producer), and Jeff (World Director) answered a number of community questions. During this Q&A, it was stated that there would be “no in-game monetization of any kind”. That means no player boosts, no purchasing skins in-game, and no Battle Pass of any kind.

There is, however a Season Pass, but the developers highlighted this isn’t a monetization thing. This is simply the way Steam categorizes groups of DLC purchases, so they call it a Season Pass as well. There will likely be paid, optional DLC updates every 3 months or so, and you can also get them in a bundle — hence the Season Pass.

But if you’re worried about a bunch of extra microtransactions, such as what launched with Diablo Immortal, don’t worry about that.

Of course, things could change in the future, but we’re hoping that Funcom sticks to their word, and keeps all the frustrating in-game monetization away from this title. That type of monetization scheme is one of the more frustrating things to see in a retail-priced video game, especially online ones.

Check out our other Dune Awakening guides and features

About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 12 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

Jason places high value on accuracy and relevance in his write-ups. He achieves this with thorough research to sift facts from rumors. One of the biggest highlights of his career is his interview with Canadian pro wrestler Kenny Omega about his inclusion in the Like a Dragon game series. He is also good friends with journalist Kazumo Hashimoto, who he admires for the kind of stories he works on and his deep ethics.

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Edited by Abhishek Manikandan