Funcom restructures around Conan Exiles and Dune: Awakening, CEO Rui Casais to step down

Funcom begins restructuring to focus solely on live operations for Conan Exiles and Dune: Awakening. CEO Rui Casais steps down at year end after 11 years leading the studio. Chief Product Officer Scott Junior, a 25-year Funcom veteran, becomes CEO. The shift follows October 2025 layoffs and closure of acquired studio The Outsiders.

"We cannot sustain the size and structure required during peak development as we move into this next phase." - Rui Casais, CEO, Funcom
Dune: Awakening's console rollout finished in September, after a June PC launch.
October 2025 layoffs tied to that launch closed acquired studio The Outsiders.
Funcom called that launch the biggest in its 32-year history.

Tencent acquired Funcom in 2020 and has grown more assertive with its portfolio.
Tencent divested Secret Mode, Splash Damage and Bulkhead over the past 18 months.
Conan Exiles recovered its development budget in five days after its 2018 launch.
New CEO Scott Junior, a 25-year Funcom veteran, was executive producer on Dune: Awakening.

For Investors & VC: Add post-launch headcount step-down plans to diligence on large-scope survival and MMO studios.
For Publishers & Developers: Pitch licensing deals for Funcom's sidelined Heroic Signatures IP, now outside its core focus.
For Service Vendors: Pitch flexible art and content outsourcing to Funcom for expansion cadence after in-house cuts.