Lisbon game-development studio of Norwegian publisher Funcom (Oslo, founded 1993). Funcom acquired Lisbon’s Zona Paradoxal (ZPX) in 2019; the studio now counts roughly 70 developers from 11 countries working on titles such as Conan Exiles and Dune: Awakening.
Funcom ZPX is the Lisbon development studio of Norwegian publisher Funcom — one of five studios worldwide alongside Oslo, Stockholm, Bucharest and Durham (US). The relationship began in 2017, when Lisbon’s Zona Paradoxal (ZPX) produced animation work for Conan Exiles; in January 2019 Funcom converted that supplier relationship into ownership, acquiring 50.1% of the studio. Tencent’s full takeover of Funcom in 2020 made the Lisbon team part of one of gaming’s largest corporate families, while day-to-day direction stayed with Oslo.
The studio operates as a full-range development team of roughly 70 people from eleven nationalities in central Lisbon, contributing to Funcom’s survival and open-world portfolio — including Dune: Awakening, the June 2025 release that broke the company’s past sales records.
Funcom ZPX is one of the clearest examples of Nordic gaming capital choosing Lisbon for talent: a Norwegian publisher that began by outsourcing animation to a Portuguese studio, then bought it, staffed it up and folded it into its global production pipeline — the acquisition-over-outsourcing pattern this publication tracks across the corridor’s technology lane.
Dune: Awakening launched in June 2025 to record-breaking sales for Funcom, with the Lisbon studio among the teams behind it — strengthening the case for continued investment in Portuguese game-development capacity.
Fractio helps Nordic companies enter the Portuguese market — from market sizing to first sales, hiring, and legal setup.
Talk to Fractio →