Dune: Awakening is already making big waves before it's even fully released

Dune: Awakening is finally upon us, sort of, and its initial response has been pretty good.

I say sort of, because it's currently in its advanced access period, reserved for those who buy the most expensive version of the game. Nevertheless, it's already boasting strong numbers on Steam.

Despite access to Dune: Awakening only going live on June 5, things are already looking extremely good for Funcom's survival epic.

As it stands at the time of writing, Dune: Awakening has peaked at 93,634 concurrent players on Steam, sitting at over 60,000 right now. It died off significantly in the early hours of this morning, but there was also a maintenance period, so it's explainable.

For a game that's required purchase of the $70 or $90 edition to get access to the early play period, that's not a bad first day at all. It's also a pretty accurate look at the initial state of the game, since at present it's only available on PC, and only through Steam.

With the weekend incoming, followed by the general launch on June 10, all signs point to the player counts going up over the coming days and weeks, too.

Further signs of impending success were seen before Dune: Awakening was available in any form, with it briefly overtaking Elden Ring: Nightreign on the Steam bestsellers chart, a game which we know has already sold bucket loads.

Toss in the early reviews for the game on Steam sitting at "very positive" and so far, at least, it looks like being a game worthy of the wait. There was no review period for press, indeed our own codes only went live with the advanced access. But so far the players, at least, are happy.

Eventually we're expecting a console release of Dune: Awakening, but as yet, that's still to be confirmed. With Summer Game Fest happening this weekend, though, fingers crossed that changes.

If you've been playing Dune: Awakening so far, jump into the comments and let us know what you think!