Conan Exiles developer Funcom signs deal to make games set in the Dune universe

Conan Exiles developer Funcom has signed a deal to make new games set in Frank Herbert's Dune universe.

According to Funcom's investor announcement, the deal - a partnership with Legendary Studios, a division of Legendary Entertainment, which owns the movie and television rights to Dune - will last six years, and is expected to result in the release of "at least" three new titles across PC and consoles.

Funcom hasn't offered specifics for the majority of titles in the works, but does say that one is an open-world multiplayer game scheduled to enter pre-production at its Oslo studio this year. That suggests something similar to Conan Exiles, just with big worms instead of big dongs.

Beyond that, there are no clues as to what else might be in-store, although it's not unreasonable to assume that at least some of Funcom's games will tie-in with Legendary's new Dune movie, starring Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones, Aquaman) and expected to release in 2020.

Interestingly, Funcom is currently working with developer Petroglyph to publish real-time strategy game Conan Unconquered later this year. Petroglyph, as you might already know, is formed of numerous ex-Westwood Studios veterans, the team behind the Command & Conquer series and, notably, the much-loved 1993 real-time strategy game Dune 2. Could this confluence of circumstances lead to the long-awaited arrival of a Dune 3? Only time will tell.