Dune: Awakening

VS

Elite: Dangerous

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))

Elite: Dangerous released in 2014 and is maintained by Frontier Developments. It's a persistent online space sim with a dedicated but niche audience, typical of older, complex simulators. Player numbers have declined from launch highs, but a strong core community remains; estimated daily players are around 15,000 based on current trends for similar titles, community activity, and public platform data.