Dune: Awakening locks a bunch of low-population Worlds to new players ahead of server migrations

Funcom has started locking some of Dune: Awakening’s lower-population servers (called “Worlds”) so brand-new players can’t roll fresh characters there for now. The change was shared in the game’s Discord, and it sounds like a temporary move while the team gets ready to run planned server migrations.

Locked Worlds won’t accept new players on any of their “Sietch” instances, unless you already have a Steam or Dune: Awakening friend on that server. Funcom says the goal is to steer incoming players toward the “right Worlds,” especially after a recent Steam sale brought in a healthy wave of newcomers.

According to the Discord announcement, the current closures hit roughly half of North America’s Worlds (44 of 88), along with smaller chunks in other regions (Asia: 5 of 14, Europe: 32 of 87, Oceania: 2 of 87, South America: 2 of 4). The post also notes this isn’t necessarily the final list of Worlds that will be involved in migrations, and servers could reopen or additional ones could be locked if needed.

Funcom says it’ll share the final migration lists about two weeks before migrations actually happen, and before any Worlds are closed specifically for that process.

If you’re worried about getting caught in the shuffle, the studio points players toward the game’s backup tools. Server transfers have also been available since January, so you can move to a busier World if you’d rather not wait and see.