Ilysia

VS

Dune: Awakening

Ilysia is a VR-focused MMORPG that launched in late 2023 by indie studio Team 21. As a niche title in the VR MMO space, its player retention is modest but active, likely engaging hundreds of daily players. The scale and indie market position suggest an estimated 500–1000 daily active players, biasing conservatively toward the lower end due to genre constraints and limited platform reach. It meets MMORPG criteria thanks to its persistent world and focus on large-scale player interactions in VR.

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))