Dune: Awakening Won't Have Worm Riding At Launch

thegamer.com:

Dune: Awakening won't let players ride sandworms from launch. Like other parts of Fremen culture, it will be relegated to a post-launch update, as the devs say they were told to leave certain aspects of the Dune universe out of the game at launch.

Speaking in a Q&A at GDC, Dune: Awakening developer Funcom explains that while some aspects of Fremen culture will be there at launch, like gathering water from blood, much of it will come later in an update. This is because the game was at one point intended to go live before the premiere of Dune: Part Two, which features much more of the Fremen than the first part.

In the Q&A, attended by TheGamer's Eric Switzer, Dune: Awakening director Joel Bylos said that the decision was made by the studio behind the latest Dune films, Legendary Pictures. Funcom worked in collaboration with Legendary to make Dune: Awakening and it seems that the studio didn't want the MMO to feature the Fremen before the film series had gotten to them.

Unfortunately, this means that players will have to wait for an update until they're able to lure and ride a sandworm. It's not clear what other parts of the Fremen way of life will be pushed back into this update, but it's safe to assume that this will apply to other concepts we saw in Dune: Part 2.

At the very least, the worms will be there. In fact, in a recent livestream about Dune: Awakening, the devs confirmed that they will be just as deadly as they are in the source material, able to kill players in "seconds".

One thing that did worry fans, however, was the game's apparent disinterest in the religion of the Dune universe. In an interview, with Eurogamer, Bylos stated that Dune: Awakening's alternate timeline allows the team to "sidestep religion". This was later walked back, with the devs going on to explain that this just means you won't play as a messiah-like figure, so don't expect to hear anyone chant "Lisan al Gaib!" as you charge into battle.

Dune: Awakening doesn't have a release date