Dune: Awakening, Creating Worlds from Book to Film to Game

Bringing the world of Arrakis to life in Funcom’s latest MMO, Dune: Awakening, Maverick produced the micro-campaign “Creating Worlds – From Book, to Film, to Game” as part of the road to release.

A series of video assets, centred on a 7 minute advertorial documentary, give fans a glimpse behind the scenes of the game’s development with a narrative drive powered by conversations with Funcom’s Chief Creative Officer, Joel Bylos, and the Oscar-winning cinematographer behind both Dune movies, Greig Fraser. With both pre-vis for the films and the entire game harnessing the potential of Unreal Engine 5, Maverick was able to capture both perspectives and weave them into a story that lifts the curtain on what fans can expect from Awakening.

From this “hero” content, a secondary suite of social assets were built to heighten the cost efficiencies of arranging two live action shoots in two global locations, and to increase the overall exposure and brand recollection from interviewing two entertainment industry titans. Focussing the social content into specific subjects enabled the Maverick team to ensure the social cuts were as engaging as possible, and with native versions of these soundbites produced for TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, VCR was front of mind from the outset.

Surmounting challenges that arose from the 2023 SAG Writers Strike, the Maverick team produced an incredibly well received asset ahead of the deadline and on budget - managing to achieve this with a sustainability mindset that ensured the micro-campaign was as good for the planet as it as for global audiences.