Closed Beta

As of time of writing, Dune: Awakening is still in active development and holding several small, Closed Beta (CB) tests under NDA. Since 2022, players have had the option to sign up for beta testing on the official website and on 14th November 2023, Funcom sent out the beta tester profile survey to all emails signed up for beta testing, as well as having the link in the FAQ.

The Closed Beta tests are currently only available for PC and require a steam and discord account to be accessed. Beta testers must sign a Non Disclose Agreement (NDA) and are invited to a separate Discord server for the purposes of providing feedback to the developers.

Schedule

As the CB tests are covered under NDA, the schedule is not public - and depends on the feedback/progress of previous tests. Funcom will not announce when the tests are, have been or will be. The only way to find out would be to receive an invitation email and sign the NDA.

There have been more than 3 beta tests conducted at the time of writing. Starting in December 2023 and continuing into 2024.

Invites

Invites to the CB are sent out via email, and contain a link to sign the NDA.. Confirming that you have received an invite (even if you do not sign the NDA) is prohibited in the official Discord, as it only encourages resentment and is seen as "rubbing it in" to the many thousands of other people who have not received an invite.

The criteria for selection is based entirely on the survey responses, and what type of feedback they require for the test. Longetivity or activity in the Discord does not affect the chances of receiving an invite, within the 'pools' of appropriate players for the tests, selection is random. However, the FAQ states that being an active participant and helping build the community might be offered an opportunity to join

The number of people invited into the waves are small, however increasing over time. The first test had very few, the second had approximately 4x that number and a subsequent test had 20x that (despite a CM incorrectly stating the number was 200x originally)

Invites cannot be sent out to minors due to the CB tests requiring participants to sign an NDA, a legal document.

Testing

The CB tests are short, focused tests of specific features. They are non-persistent, progression wipes happen often and some features disabled, and very much work-in-progress. Testers are specifically requested not to search for/report on bugs, but instead to give crucial feedback on gameplay elements and design

Giveaways

There has been one beta key raffle so far, on 15-02-2024. These are rare and only "a few dozen" lucky members of the Discord server won and received their invites. There may be more in the future, however nothing has been confirmed.

Key Selling Scams

Given how rare and coveted access to the CB is, there have been several keyselling websites offering to sell Steam Keys or whole Steam Accounts with access to the Closed Beta. These are known scams. Funcom has a system which links the Beta client keys to the email, Steam and Discord accounts of the specific tester they have been allocated to. The keys are also temporary, being revoked at the end of each test, making the sale of these keys effectively moot.

Open Beta

The Closed Beta tests will continue until they progress into open beta, which may be considered more "fun" as there would be a more finished game at that point. There is no indication of when open tests may be, however.