Funcom has announced a leadership change and a restructuring. Chief Product Officer and company veteran Scott Junior will step up as CEO, succeeding Rui Casais, who has led the Norway-based developer and publisher for the past 11 years.
What the company confirmed
- New CEO: Scott Junior, previously Chief Product Officer.
- Departing CEO: Rui Casais, who leaves at the end of the year after 22 years at Funcom and 11 years leading it.
- Transition: Casais will work with Junior to manage the restructuring and hand over leadership.
- Focus: long-term operation, growth and expansion of Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles.
- Job losses: Funcom has confirmed the restructuring means “reducing the size of the organization” but has not disclosed how many roles are affected.
The stated reason
Funcom’s own framing is about the end of a production cycle. Dune: Awakening launched on PC in June 2025 and arrived on PlayStation and Xbox in September, joining Conan Exiles as Funcom’s second survival game available across all three platforms. With that major development cycle complete, the company says it will shift its primary focus to operating and expanding both games.
Casais put it directly: Dune: Awakening “has been the biggest project we have ever undertaken,” and moving from full production into long-term post-launch development means the company “cannot sustain the size and structure required during peak development.”
Why this pattern keeps repeating in games
This is the same structural problem the games industry has been working through for several years. Development is lumpy: a studio needs a large team to build a game, then needs a much smaller team to run it. Companies that cannot smoothly move staff between projects end up cutting after each launch.
The alternative is to always have a next project in production, which requires either consistent revenue to fund it or a publisher willing to carry the gap. Funcom is choosing focus over continuity, which reduces cost and risk but also reduces the company’s ability to absorb a disappointing year.
What it means for players
The reassuring part is explicit: the restructuring is designed to guarantee focus on Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles going forward, and Funcom says it remains committed to supporting and expanding both games for years to come. Conan Exiles recently received an Enhanced edition that the company says it will continue to expand.
The risk to watch is the one that follows any support-focused restructuring: content cadence. Live-service games live on update frequency, and a smaller team usually means slower or smaller updates. If you play either game, the update schedule over the next two quarters is the thing worth tracking.
For more gaming coverage, see our look at Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse and Deadlock’s newest hero.
Sources
- Funcom Press Center, “Funcom veteran Scott Junior steps up as CEO” (press release 14/10/2026): https://pr.funcom.com/Funcom-veteran-Scott-Junior-steps-up-as-CEO
- PC Gamer, “Funcom is laying off yet more developers as it pivots to supporting Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles”: https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/funcom-is-laying-off-yet-more-developers-as-it-pivots-to-supporting-dune-awakening-and-conan-exiles/
- MMORPG.com, “Funcom Announces a New CEO and Layoffs in Restructuring, Focus On Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles”: https://www.mmorpg.com/news/funcom-announces-a-new-ceo-and-layoffs-in-restructuring-focus-on-dune-awakening-and-conan-exiles-2000139127
