Alter Aeon

VS

Dune: Awakening

Alter Aeon is a text-based MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) launched in 1996. As an old-school, niche fantasy MUD, it has a loyal but very small community focused on roleplaying and co-op gameplay. While it benefits from long-term fandom and accessibility across multiple platforms, the current daily active player base is likely limited to around 100–200 core users, typical for legacy MUDs without recent mainstream resurgence.

As of late August 2025, Dune: Awakening had approximately 14,000 concurrent players, reflecting a significant decline from its peak of over 189,000 concurrent players shortly after launch in June 2025. This decrease is attributed to factors such as player burnout, game design issues, and technical problems. Despite these challenges, the developers remain optimistic, citing strong player retention and a 10-year development roadmap that includes plans to explore new planets and regions within the Dune universe. ([gamesradar.com](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/mmo/dune-awakening-dev-says-player-retention-has-been-extremely-good-and-the-mmos-10-year-plan-still-has-so-much-to-pull-from-in-the-lore-well-go-to-new-planets-eventually/?utm_source=openai))