The Mana World

VS

Dune: Awakening

The Mana World is an open-source, community-driven MMORPG first released in 2004. Given its age, lack of a major publisher or recent major updates, and its niche free software nature, its player base is very small. Typical estimates for similar older open-source projects suggest daily active players in the low hundreds or less. It meets MMO criteria as it has a persistent world and supports large-scale multiplayer interaction.

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))