Dispatch just closed out 2025 by hitting a massive milestone that has the gaming industry reconsidering everything it thought it knew about narrative adventure games. The superhero workplace comedy from AdHoc Studio, founded by former Telltale Games developers, surpassed 3 million players according to stats released on New Year’s Day. That’s roughly two-thirds of their original three-year sales target achieved in just over two months since launch.
The Numbers That Changed Everything
AdHoc Studio dropped an animated infographic on Bluesky packed with impressive statistics that paint a picture of just how thoroughly Dispatch dominated its genre in 2025. Players completed 52.5 million shifts, answered 727 million emergency calls, and dispatched over 1 billion heroes throughout the game’s eight-episode run. The content footprint alone is staggering, with approximately 23 million hours watched across Twitch and YouTube, over 340 million video views, and more than 55,500 content creators producing Dispatch-related material.
The game hit 1 million sales in its first 10 days after launching on October 22, 2025. It crossed 2 million players by mid-November, right around when the final episodes dropped. Now at 3 million, Dispatch has become the poster child for proving that Telltale-style choice-driven narrative games never actually died, they just needed developers who understood what made them work in the first place and what killed them the second time around.
What Players Actually Did
The player choice statistics reveal some fascinating patterns about how people engaged with the game. When it came to building their Z-Team superhero roster, 2.3 million players recruited Waterboy while 2 million went with Phenomaman instead. The split was incredibly close, showing how well the game balanced character appeal. More dramatically, 2.8 million players chose to cut Coop from the team compared to 1.6 million who kept him around.
Romance options proved wildly popular, with only about 164,000 players (roughly 5% of the playerbase) completing the game without pursuing any romantic relationships. Nearly 2 million players romanced Invisigal, another million went for Blazer, and 266,000 ambitious souls romanced both. These numbers suggest Baldur’s Gate 3 was onto something with its enthusiastic romance options, because players clearly want to smooch their favorite characters regardless of genre.
From Telltale’s Ashes
To understand why Dispatch’s success matters so much, you need to know the story of AdHoc Studio’s founders. Dennis Lenart and Nick Herman served as creative directors at Telltale Games during its peak years. Pierre Shorette was director of writing, and Michael Choung worked as a lead writer. They were there when The Walking Dead redefined what interactive narrative games could be, winning Game of the Year awards and proving episodic storytelling could work in gaming.
They also witnessed Telltale’s catastrophic collapse firsthand. The studio that once defined the genre destroyed itself through unsustainable production schedules, toxic management, formulaic design, and aggressive expansion that prioritized quantity over quality. In September 2018, Telltale abruptly shut down, laying off 250 employees with nine days of insurance coverage and zero severance pay. It was one of the gaming industry’s most brutal closures, leaving countless developers without jobs and unfinished games abandoned mid-season.
Lenart, Herman, and Shorette had actually left Telltale in 2017 to join Ubisoft before the collapse, but they’d seen the writing on the wall. In February 2019, the four founders launched AdHoc Studio with a clear mission: make narrative adventure games the way Telltale should have been making them all along. They wanted the creative freedom to take risks without fifty executives needing to approve every decision. They wanted sustainable development schedules that didn’t destroy their team. Most importantly, they wanted to prove the genre itself wasn’t the problem.
What Dispatch Did Differently
Dispatch learned from Telltale’s mistakes in several crucial ways. First, the release schedule was consistent and manageable. All eight episodes launched over a three-week period starting October 22, 2025, with new episodes dropping every Wednesday. This created a weekly event that dominated conversation without the months-long gaps between episodes that killed momentum for older Telltale games. Players could binge or follow along weekly, but either way, the complete story arrived within a month.
Second, the production values matched modern expectations. Telltale stubbornly stuck with outdated technology and visuals that looked increasingly rough as competitors raised the bar. Dispatch features live-action performances seamlessly integrated with stylized gameplay sequences, voice acting from Hollywood talent like Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) and Laura Bailey (Critical Role), and production polish that doesn’t feel cheap or rushed.
The Cast That Sold It
Speaking of the cast, Dispatch assembled an absolutely stacked lineup that blurred the lines between traditional Hollywood actors, voice acting legends, and streaming personalities. Aaron Paul voices protagonist Robert Robertson, a washed-up former superhero now working as a dispatcher. Laura Bailey plays Invisigal, Jeffrey Wright voices Chase, and Erin Yvette brings Blonde Blazer to life.
But AdHoc also smartly incorporated popular gaming and streaming personalities, including Jacksepticeye, Moistcr1tikal, Alanah Pearce, Joel Haver, and members of the Critical Role cast like Matthew Mercer and Travis Willingham. This decision helped the game explode on streaming platforms and YouTube, with creators naturally gravitating toward a game that featured their friends and colleagues. The 23 million hours of watch time didn’t happen by accident.
What the Industry Should Learn
According to AdHoc co-director Dennis Lenart, the simplest explanation for Dispatch’s success is that people still enjoy good narrative games. That might sound obvious, but the industry had largely abandoned the genre after Telltale’s collapse and several other high-profile narrative game failures. Publishers concluded the market had moved on and players wanted live service shooters or sprawling open-world RPGs instead.
Dispatch proved that conclusion was wrong. Players want accessible, story-focused experiences that respect their time and deliver meaningful choices. They want games they can finish in a reasonable timeframe without mastering complex mechanics or investing hundreds of hours. They want characters they actually care about and stories that stick with them after the credits roll. Telltale understood this in 2012 with The Walking Dead, but lost the plot by 2018 when they were churning out multiple licensed properties simultaneously using the same tired formula.
AdHoc co-director Chris Rebbert pointed out that simplicity and ease of access have become rare commodities in modern gaming. Something as straightforward as Dispatch stands out precisely because most games have become increasingly complex, demanding, and time-consuming. When a well-crafted narrative adventure game appears that you can actually finish without consulting wikis or optimizing builds, it feels refreshing rather than outdated.
The Road Ahead
AdHoc Studio has strongly hinted at a second season of Dispatch, though nothing is officially confirmed yet. The game took nearly seven years to develop from concept to launch, which CEO Michael Choung jokingly described as GTA 6 amounts of time. However, he suggested Season 2 might not take nearly as long now that the technology, cast relationships, and production pipeline are established.
The success of Dispatch has massive implications beyond just one studio’s future. It proves there’s still a viable market for mid-budget narrative adventure games when executed properly. Publishers watching from the sidelines might finally greenlight similar projects that have been gathering dust in pitch documents. Developers who cut their teeth on Telltale games might feel emboldened to try their own takes on the genre.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people have played Dispatch?
Dispatch surpassed 3 million players as of January 1, 2026, achieving roughly two-thirds of AdHoc Studio’s original three-year sales target in just over two months since its October 22, 2025 launch.
Who made Dispatch?
AdHoc Studio developed Dispatch. The studio was founded in 2019 by four former Telltale Games developers: Dennis Lenart and Nick Herman (former creative directors), Pierre Shorette (former director of writing), and Michael Choung (former lead writer).
What is Dispatch about?
Dispatch is a superhero workplace comedy where you play as Robert Robertson, a former superhero now working as a dispatcher for a team of reformed supervillains called the Z-Team. You manage emergencies, build relationships, and make choices that affect both the story and your team’s effectiveness.
Who voices the characters in Dispatch?
The cast includes Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) as Robert Robertson, Laura Bailey (Critical Role) as Invisigal, Jeffrey Wright as Chase, Erin Yvette as Blazer, plus gaming personalities like Jacksepticeye, Moistcr1tikal, Alanah Pearce, Matthew Mercer, Travis Willingham, and Joel Haver.
Is Dispatch like Telltale games?
Yes, Dispatch uses a similar episodic, choice-driven narrative structure to classic Telltale games like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. However, it features higher production values, a consistent weekly release schedule, and lessons learned from Telltale’s mistakes.
How many episodes does Dispatch have?
Dispatch Season 1 consists of eight episodes that were released over three weeks starting October 22, 2025, with new episodes dropping every Wednesday until the finale on November 12, 2025.
Will there be a Dispatch Season 2?
While not officially confirmed, AdHoc Studio has strongly hinted that a second season is likely given the game’s commercial and critical success. Development would likely be faster than Season 1, which took nearly seven years to complete.
What platforms is Dispatch available on?
Dispatch launched on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam. It was initially a PlayStation console exclusive but that exclusivity period has ended, potentially opening the door for Xbox releases in the future.
The Genre That Refused to Die
Dispatch’s success represents more than just one game doing well. It’s validation for everyone who insisted that Telltale-style narrative adventures still had a place in modern gaming despite years of evidence suggesting otherwise. The genre didn’t die because players stopped caring about stories or choices. It stumbled because the studios making these games burned out trying to meet unsustainable production demands while using outdated technology and increasingly formulaic designs. AdHoc Studio took the best parts of what Telltale pioneered, learned from where Telltale failed, and delivered something that felt both nostalgic and refreshingly modern. They proved you can make a critically acclaimed, commercially successful narrative adventure game in 2025 if you actually respect your developers, your technology, and your audience. The 3 million players who answered 727 million calls and romanced millions of superheroes are proof that choice-driven storytelling never went out of style. It was just waiting for developers who remembered why it worked in the first place.