Dune is very much back in the public eye, partly due to the second film that's taken the world by stand storm (sorry) and partly due to an upcoming next-gen survival MMO set on Arrakis which is due to be released imminently. With all of this Dune mania going on around us, you may be tempted to revisit its various video game adaptations - and by doing so you will notice that the World of Dune had not one but two video game adaptations in 1992.
The first game to go into development was a Dune adventure game by Cryo Interactive. Announced with much fanfare, it promised to immerse players in the rich world of Arrakis. However, development hit a snag, and Virgin Interactive, the publisher, pulled the plug. They pulled the plug in favour of a Dune strategy game that one of their other studios, Westwood, were developing. Then enter Sega, who had just acquired Virgin's European operations. Word hadn't made it through to Sega that this game was cancelled and while doing an audit, Sega discovered they had a team that were still working on creating a Dune PC game but that they had no rights to publish it. With so much work having gone into this adventure game, Sega went back to Virgin and convinced them to partner up on this game and give them the chance to publish it.
Virgin agreed to the partnership, believing that if Cryo Interactive and Sega released a successful RPG, that it could drum up interest in their own Dune strategy game. And so, they decided to maximise on the efforts that were going into Dune 1, give the rights for it to publish and then they went on to shortly after release Dune 2: The Building of a Dynasty - this game was a unique blend of adventure and strategy that carved its own niche in the Dune gaming universe.
This twist of fate, born from a mix-up with a Sega acquisition, gave gamers a double dose of Dune in 1992. While both games had their merits, Dune 2: The Building of a Dynasty went on to achieve cult classic status, inspiring future generations of real-time strategy games. We'd love to see these Dune games re-released with all of this Dune mania going on. Where would they fit for a release now? We think they'd be great on an Evercade games console!
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