AdHoc Studio just announced something almost nobody expected to see in 2025: a game that sold one million copies in ten days without marketing from a major publisher and without a recognized franchise attached to its name. Dispatch, the episodic superhero workplace comedy developed by former Telltale Games writers and directors, hit the milestone on November 2, 2025 – just 11 days after launch on October 22. For a $29.99 indie narrative game competing in a market supposedly dominated by free-to-play live service games and established franchises, this is a landmark achievement that signals something important about what players actually want.
Who Is AdHoc Studio and Why Does This Matter?
AdHoc Studio is a company founded by former Telltale Games developers after Telltale shut down in 2018. The team includes writers and directors from acclaimed narrative games like Tales from the Borderlands and The Wolf Among Us. When Telltale died, the conventional wisdom was that choice-driven narrative games were dead – the market didn’t want them, publishers didn’t fund them, and players preferred gameplay over stories. For years, that seemed true. But AdHoc has just proven the opposite with Dispatch.
What makes the 1 million copy achievement so significant is that it came without traditional AAA marketing, without franchise recognition, and without a major publisher’s backing. This is entirely player-driven demand. Word of mouth. Streaming enthusiasm. Social media discovery. The fact that over 1 million people bought the game based on community recommendations rather than publisher hype represents a fundamental validation of narrative-driven gaming.
What Is Dispatch?
Dispatch is a superhero workplace comedy set in modern Los Angeles where you play Robert Robertson, aka “Mecha Man,” a disgraced former hero whose suit got destroyed and who’s now forced to work as a dispatcher managing a team of ex-supervillains. It’s part comedy, part strategy game, part narrative adventure. Your dialogue choices and tactical mission decisions all influence relationships, story outcomes, and the overall direction of the game. Eight episodes released over three weeks (with the final two dropping November 12), each episode building on your previous choices.
The game features an absurdly stacked voice cast: Aaron Paul, Jeffrey Wright, Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer from Critical Role, plus internet personalities like Jacksepticeye and MoistCr1TiKaL. The combination of workplace comedy writing with supernatural superhero absurdity creates something genuinely unique in gaming.
The Episodic Strategy Paid Off Massively
Dispatch launched with only 2 out of 8 episodes available. Then new episodes dropped every week. Most game publishers would consider this commercial suicide – why would players buy a complete game when only 25% of content is available? But the episodic format created exactly what Telltale games were known for: appointment gaming. You buy it opening day to play Episodes 1 and 2, then you return every week for new content. The weekly release schedule keeps the game in the conversation, maintains social media buzz, and creates natural stopping points for discussion.
This is the Telltale playbook that made The Walking Dead season one the phenomenon it was. Release episodes weekly. Let players obsess over their choices. Create community discussion around branching narratives. Build anticipation for what comes next. AdHoc took that proven formula and it worked perfectly.
The Release Timing: Critical Role Connection
Critical Role, the massively popular Dungeons & Dragons streaming show, created a special episode celebrating Dispatch’s launch. That single streaming event probably introduced the game to hundreds of thousands of new players who might not have known about it otherwise. The cast members’ participation (Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer, Sam Riegel, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Ashley Johnson) meant Critical Role fans immediately saw it as “our game.” That community validation is probably worth millions in traditional marketing spend.
The timing also mattered. The game released October 22, which meant players had the full month of November to keep discovering it before the series concluded. The 1 million copies milestone was hit right in the middle of that window, generating a feedback loop: people buy it, see the milestone, tell their friends, more people buy it.
What This Victory Means for Narrative Games
For years, the industry treated narrative games like a niche genre with limited commercial potential. Publishers preferred action games, live service games, games with competitive multiplayer. Choice-driven narrative experiences were seen as a legacy from an older era, something made by indie developers with no other choice. Dispatch proves that’s completely wrong. Players want these games. They want meaningful choices. They want stories that respond to their decisions. They want to discuss their playthroughs and see how different choices changed outcomes.
This validates the entire philosophy behind former Telltale developers launching AdHoc. They bet that narrative games weren’t dead, just poorly supported by an industry that didn’t believe in them. They were right. 1 million copies in 10 days is validation of that belief.
| Metric | Dispatch Performance | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Copies Sold | 1 Million in 10 days | Major indie success, comparable to AAA launches |
| Price Point | $29.99 | Premium pricing without discount, shows player conviction |
| Available Content at Launch | 2 out of 8 episodes (25%) | Players bought incomplete game based on trust and hype |
| Publisher Support | None – independent release | Player discovery via word-of-mouth only |
| Marketing Budget | Unknown, likely minimal | Word-of-mouth and streaming drove adoption |
| Studio Size | Small indie team (ex-Telltale) | Proves small teams can compete if game is good |
The Broader Industry Implications
Major publishers watching Dispatch’s success should be taking notes. These numbers prove that choice-driven narrative games have a real market. Not a niche market. A mainstream market. Publishers spent years pivoting away from narrative games because they believed players wanted graphics and gameplay over story. Dispatch proves that false premise. Players want both. They want stories that matter. They want choices that affect outcomes.
This success also validates the episodic release model when done right. Weekly drops for 8 weeks creates sustained engagement rather than a single launch spike followed by abandonment. It keeps streamers playing the game. It keeps social media discussing the game. It prevents the “played for 40 hours, beat it, moved on” cycle that’s normal for complete game releases.
FAQs
Is Dispatch finished or is there more coming?
Dispatch releases over 8 weeks with 2 episodes per week through November 12, 2025. The final episodes (7 and 8) release on November 12, concluding the first season. Whether there will be additional seasons after that hasn’t been announced.
How much content is actually in Dispatch?
AdHoc Studio announced approximately 25 hours of narrative content across all 8 episodes, plus the strategic mission system where you deploy heroes and make tactical decisions that affect outcomes.
What platforms is Dispatch available on?
Dispatch released on PlayStation 5 and PC (Steam) on October 22, 2025. Console versions for Xbox or Nintendo Switch haven’t been announced.
Does my choice actually matter in Dispatch?
Yes. AdHoc Studio’s entire philosophy is that player choices directly influence relationships, story outcomes, and how the narrative unfolds. This is the core of what they learned from making Telltale games.
How much does Dispatch cost?
Dispatch costs $29.99 USD. There were no launch discounts, and the game was sold at full price despite only 2 episodes being available at launch.
Who voices the characters?
The cast includes Aaron Paul, Jeffrey Wright, Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Matthew Mercer, Sam Riegel, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Ashley Johnson, plus content creators Jacksepticeye, MoistCr1TiKaL, Joel Haver, and Alanah Pearce among others.
Is this the best-selling indie game ever?
1 million copies in 10 days is extremely strong for an indie game, though exact comparisons to other titles depend on how those games’ sales are counted and reported.
Will publishers finally fund more narrative games?
The success of Dispatch will likely encourage publishers to green-light more choice-driven narrative projects. Whether this translates to industry-wide change remains to be seen, but this validates the business case for narrative games.
Conclusion
Dispatch’s achievement of 1 million copies sold in 10 days represents a watershed moment for narrative-driven gaming. A small team of former Telltale developers proved that the appetite for choice-driven stories hasn’t diminished – it was just waiting for the right game from the right team at the right time. By focusing on meaningful storytelling, leveraging a star-studded voice cast, and executing the episodic release model perfectly, AdHoc Studio didn’t just launch a successful game. They proved that the narrative game genre isn’t dead – it’s thriving in the hands of people who believe in it.
For the broader gaming industry, Dispatch is a wake-up call. Players want stories that matter. They want choices that affect outcomes. They want to experience narratives collaboratively with communities discussing their decisions online. If publishers and studios want to compete for players’ attention in 2025 and beyond, this commercial success sends a clear message: invest in narrative. Invest in choice. Invest in the kind of games that make people think about their decisions long after they’ve finished playing. Dispatch sold 1 million copies because it did exactly that.