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Funcom is restructuring and will lay off an undisclosed number of employees while concentrating its operating resources on Conan Exiles and Dune: Awakening. The announcement, reported on 14 October 2026, also says chief executive Rui Casais is expected to leave after the difficult restructuring phase and that Chief Product Officer Scott Junior is expected to succeed him.
What Funcom announced
The Norwegian game developer said its restructuring will reduce staff and narrow the company’s active priorities. The stated focus is its two live-service titles: Conan Exiles, an established open-world survival game, and Dune: Awakening, a newer open-world survival game that combines survival systems with MMO elements.
The announcement describes other projects as being exited or deprioritized, but it does not identify every affected project or explain whether any individual title has been formally canceled. It also does not publish a layoff total.
Leadership change
Rui Casais is reported to be leaving after the restructuring phase. Scott Junior, currently Funcom’s chief product officer, is expected to become his successor. The available announcement does not provide a precise handover date or additional details about the executive transition.
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Why layoffs are happening after Dune: Awakening
Funcom’s move follows a transition described in a company statement from October 2025. The developer said Dune: Awakening had shown “incredible potential” and that the right path was to direct internal resources toward “releasing new content, features, and enhancements.”
The same statement identified two simultaneous demands: moving the game from development into long-term live operation and preparing a major console release. Funcom said that combination required it to restructure teams and shift resources across projects and studios. At that time, the company said it could not yet determine the exact impact on staff.
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The 2026 announcement indicates that this resource shift has now become a broader operating decision. Instead of maintaining the same spread of projects, Funcom is putting more of its organization behind the two games it has publicly identified as its current titles.
How many employees are affected?
Funcom has not disclosed the number of positions affected by the October 2026 restructuring. Any specific layoff figure circulating without a company or regulatory source should therefore be treated as unconfirmed.
For scale, Funcom’s operations information describes a workforce of more than 300 people representing more than 37 nationalities across four studios:
- Oslo, Norway
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Durham, North Carolina
- Bucharest, Romania
That workforce description is a company-wide snapshot, not a count of jobs at risk in the new restructuring. Funcom’s jobs page currently displays “No open positions right now,” but the absence of vacancies does not establish how many employees will leave or whether every studio is affected equally.
What happens to Conan Exiles and Dune: Awakening?
Both games are the named beneficiaries of the narrowed strategy. A focus on them means the company intends to keep allocating development and live-operations capacity to content, features, maintenance and other ongoing work rather than distributing the same resources across a wider project portfolio.
| Factor | Conan Exiles | Dune: Awakening |
|---|---|---|
| Core model | Open-world survival | Open-world survival blended with MMO elements |
| Operating position | Established live game | Newer live operation moving from development into sustained service |
| Strategic status | One of Funcom’s two explicitly named priorities | One of Funcom’s two explicitly named priorities |
| Roadmap context | Ongoing live support; a specific update schedule was not stated | Continued content and feature work, alongside preparation for a major console release; timing was not stated in the announcement |
The announcement does not promise a particular update cadence, expansion, platform date or feature list for either title. It supports the narrower conclusion that both games are receiving the company’s strategic attention, not that every planned milestone is guaranteed.
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Is Funcom abandoning its other games?
Funcom said it is exiting or deprioritizing other projects as part of the restructuring. That wording signals a reduced commitment, but it is not a complete public list of cancellations. A project can be paused, transferred, reduced in scope or ended, and the current report does not distinguish among those outcomes.
The decision follows earlier cuts reported in October 2025. GamesRadar reported that The Outsiders and Funcom Stockholm were affected and that The Outsiders, a studio that had operated for 10 years, would close. Those changes provide context for the continuing consolidation, but they do not supply the missing 2026 layoff total.
Quick Recap
What the restructuring means for players and developers
For players
- More concentrated support: Conan Exiles and Dune: Awakening are the clearest candidates for continued internal development because they are the two games named in the strategy.
- Less certainty elsewhere: Players waiting for other Funcom projects should not assume normal production continues while those projects are described as exited or deprioritized.
- No confirmed schedule change: The announcement does not state a new patch timetable, content delay or console launch date.
For employees and applicants
- The number of affected roles, locations and departments has not been published.
- Funcom’s public jobs page currently lists no open positions, which suggests hiring is not being presented as a parallel expansion during the restructuring.
- The company’s four-studio footprint means the eventual impact could involve more than one location, but no studio-by-studio breakdown has been confirmed.
What is confirmed—and what is not
| Question | Current answer |
|---|---|
| Did Funcom announce layoffs? | Yes. The 14 October 2026 report describes layoffs as part of a restructuring. |
| How many people will lose their jobs? | Not disclosed. |
| Which games are the priority? | Conan Exiles and Dune: Awakening. |
| Are all other games canceled? | Not established; other projects are described as exited or deprioritized. |
| Who is replacing Rui Casais? | Scott Junior is expected to succeed him after the restructuring phase. |
| How large is Funcom? | More than 300 people across four studios, according to the company’s operations information. |
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