AdHoc Studio just proved that episodic gaming isn’t dead, it was just waiting for someone crazy enough to do it right. Their debut title Dispatch sold over 2 million copies within its first month, demolishing expectations and achieving three-year sales targets in just three months. The kicker? Studio CEO Michael Choung openly admits the episodic business model is an insane thing to do, and no production metrics supported their decision to go that route.
Dispatch released eight episodes across five weeks starting October 22, 2025, with two new episodes dropping each week. The superhero workplace comedy features Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul as a washed-up hero managing a dysfunctional team of reformed villains. Players make choices that affect relationships and story outcomes while strategically dispatching heroes to emergencies across the city. It’s basically The Office meets X-Men with dialogue trees, and apparently that’s exactly what players wanted.
Why Everyone Thought This Would Fail
Episodic gaming has a rough history. The model promised regular content drops that would keep players engaged between releases, but most attempts crashed and burned spectacularly. Telltale Games, the company that pioneered modern episodic gaming with The Walking Dead, closed its doors in 2018 after years of struggling to replicate that initial success. Valve famously abandoned Half-Life 2 Episode 3, leaving one of gaming’s most beloved franchises on a permanent cliffhanger.
The fundamental problems never got solved. Episodes released months apart caused players to forget what happened. Long gaps killed momentum and conversation. Development costs didn’t decrease just because you split the game into chunks. And worst of all, players learned to just wait for the complete package rather than commit to an unfinished product that might never see completion.
By 2024, the conventional wisdom was clear. Episodic gaming was dead. Streaming culture trained audiences to binge content immediately rather than wait for weekly releases. Every digital storefront offered endless completed games competing for attention. Why would players accept the inconvenience of waiting weeks or months between episodes when they could play something else right now?
How AdHoc Did It Differently
AdHoc Studio made one crucial decision that changed everything. They completed 90 percent of the game before releasing episode one. The remaining 10 percent consisted of polish, bug fixes, audio tweaks, and minor text adjustments spread across the month of episodic launches. This meant no massive delays between episodes, no quality drops as development strained, and no risk of abandonment before the story concluded.
The two-episodes-per-week cadence came after considerable internal debate. The team wanted to extend coverage over a longer period to mimic traditional TV shows while avoiding the multi-month gaps that killed previous episodic games. Five weeks felt long enough to build conversation and short enough to maintain momentum.
Key elements of their approach:
- Guaranteed completion with the entire game essentially finished before launch
- Consistent two-episode weekly releases with no delays or surprises
- Single purchase gets all eight episodes automatically as they release
- High production values matching prestige TV animation quality
- Star-studded voice cast including Aaron Paul, Laura Bailey, and more
- Live development allowing real-time balancing based on player choices and feedback
The Results Speak for Themselves
Dispatch hit 1 million sales in just 10 days. It doubled that to 2 million within the first month. The studio is now on track to exceed its three-year sales projections in three months instead of three years. For context, that’s faster than most AAA games from established franchises, and this is a brand new IP from a studio nobody heard of six months ago.
| Milestone | Timeline | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Episode 1 Release | October 22, 2025 | Launch on PS5 and PC with strong pre-orders |
| 1 Million Sales | 10 days after launch | Exceeded initial expectations dramatically |
| 2 Million Sales | One month after launch | Put game on track to hit 3-year target in 3 months |
| Episode 8 Finale | November 2025 | Completed full story arc within 5 weeks |
| Player Growth | Throughout release | Playerbase increased weekly instead of declining |
But sales numbers only tell part of the story. What really matters is player engagement, and that’s where Dispatch completely broke the mold. Most games see a surge at launch followed by steady decline as players finish and move on. Dispatch’s playerbase grew every single week instead. New episodes kept players returning and discussing their choices, creating a conversation loop that attracted even more players.
Why The Model Worked This Time
Michael Choung, AdHoc Studio CEO, explained that the episodic format acts as a multiplier. It enhances good content while failing to rescue poorly crafted narratives. If Dispatch had mediocre writing or boring characters, splitting it into episodes would have made things worse by highlighting the flaws and killing momentum.
But Dispatch had exceptional content worth talking about. The writing comes from veterans of Telltale’s golden age, including directors Dennis Lenart and Nick Herman who worked on The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead. They understand how to craft meaningful choices, develop characters through dialogue, and create cliffhangers that leave players desperate for the next episode.
Aaron Paul’s performance as Robert Robertson elevates everything. His first video game role brought dramatic weight that the project might have lacked with a less accomplished actor. Paul recorded alone in a booth with other characters playing in his ears, admitting the process was confusing but ultimately rewarding. His emotional depth grounds the comedy and makes the stakes feel real.
The episodic format also enabled something unique. Because the team had everything essentially complete, they could monitor player choices in real time and subtly adjust balancing for later episodes. Invisible relationship meters and storytelling calculations got tweaked based on how players were actually experiencing the game. That kind of responsive development simply isn’t possible with traditional releases.
The Broader Context of Episodic Gaming’s Corpse
Understanding why Dispatch’s success matters requires looking at episodic gaming’s graveyard. Telltale Games pioneered the modern episodic model with The Walking Dead in 2012, selling 8.5 million episode purchases and generating an estimated $40 million in revenue. That success spawned seasons two through four, plus numerous other licensed properties.
But cracks showed quickly. Development teams struggled with brutal crunch as episodes came due. Quality became inconsistent. Multiple projects running simultaneously stretched resources thin. And the market got saturated with Telltale’s house style, making each new game feel like a reskinned version of the last.
When Telltale closed in 2018, it took the episodic gaming model’s credibility with it. Other attempts fared no better. Life is Strange found success but released episodes months apart, killing momentum. Hitman tried episodic structure and quickly pivoted away from it. Half-Life 2’s episodic vision never materialized past Episode 2. Even Sonic the Hedgehog 4 got canceled after two episodes.
The lesson seemed clear by 2024. Episodic gaming fundamentally didn’t work for financial or entertainment reasons. Cliffhangers frustrated players trained by Netflix to binge entire seasons. Development between episodes created delays that destroyed hype. And players learned to simply wait for complete editions rather than commit to potentially abandoned projects.
What This Means for Gaming’s Future
AdHoc Studio isn’t declaring episodic gaming’s resurrection. Choung emphasized that developers should carefully consider before choosing this format, acknowledging the risks involved. The studio hopes their approach might inspire other teams while recognizing it won’t work for every project.
The key differentiators seem to be completeness before launch, reasonable time frames between episodes, and exceptional content quality. You can’t half-commit to episodic structure and expect it to save mediocre work. Dispatch succeeded because it executed brilliantly on every level while using the episodic format to enhance rather than compensate for its strengths.
Season two is already in consideration following the commercial and critical success. Aaron Paul expressed enthusiasm about returning for more seasons. Critical Role Productions announced a partnership for Dispatch merchandise, tabletop gaming, and an animated series. The game earned nominations for Best Debut Indie Game at The Game Awards 2025.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Dispatch have and how long did the release take?
Dispatch consists of eight episodes released over five weeks starting October 22, 2025. AdHoc Studio released two episodes each week, with the entire story concluding by late November 2025. Players who purchased the game received all episodes automatically as they released without additional payments.
How much did Dispatch sell and how fast?
Dispatch sold over 1 million copies in its first 10 days and exceeded 2 million copies within the first month. The game is now on track to achieve its three-year sales target in just three months, dramatically exceeding the studio’s expectations and proving the episodic model can work commercially.
Who made Dispatch and what’s their background?
AdHoc Studio developed and published Dispatch. The studio was founded by industry veterans including Nick Herman and Dennis Lenart, who previously worked at Telltale Games on acclaimed titles like The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead. Their experience with narrative-driven episodic games directly informed Dispatch’s development approach.
Why did AdHoc call episodic gaming insane if they used that model?
CEO Michael Choung explained that no production metrics supported the episodic model from a business standpoint. The decision was considered risky by many in the industry, and success depends entirely on content quality. Choung described the episodic format as a multiplier that enhances good content but can’t rescue poor narratives, making it a high-risk, high-reward strategy.
Is Dispatch like Telltale’s The Walking Dead?
Yes, Dispatch draws heavy inspiration from Telltale’s narrative adventure games. It features choice-driven dialogue trees where player decisions affect relationships and story outcomes. However, Dispatch adds strategic management gameplay where you assign heroes to emergencies based on their stats and traits, making it a hybrid of narrative adventure and strategy elements.
Who voices the main character in Dispatch?
Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad voices protagonist Robert Robertson, also known as the former hero Mecha Man. This marks Paul’s first video game performance. According to creative director Nick Herman, Paul’s involvement added significant dramatic weight to the character and raised the emotional stakes throughout the story.
Will there be a Dispatch season 2?
AdHoc Studio co-founders mentioned they’re considering a potential second season following the game’s commercial success and positive reception. Aaron Paul expressed enthusiasm about doing more seasons in interviews. Critical Role Productions has partnered with AdHoc for merchandise, tabletop gaming, and an animated series, suggesting the Dispatch universe will continue expanding.
Do I need to wait for all episodes to play Dispatch now?
No. All eight episodes are now available since the episodic release concluded in November 2025. New players purchasing Dispatch get the complete experience immediately. The episodic release strategy was primarily about building conversation and momentum during the launch window, but the game functions as a complete package for anyone buying it now.
The Verdict on a Dead Format’s Revival
Dispatch proves that episodic gaming wasn’t fundamentally broken, it was just executed poorly most of the time. When a studio completes development before launching episodes, maintains consistent release schedules, delivers exceptional quality, and keeps the total time frame reasonable, the format can actually enhance player engagement rather than frustrate it.
The weekly episode drops created conversation loops that kept Dispatch visible and growing throughout its launch window. Player counts increased rather than decreased because people kept returning for new episodes and telling friends about their experiences. That word-of-mouth momentum drove sales that exceeded three-year projections in three months.
Will this spark an episodic gaming renaissance? Probably not. The model still requires exceptional execution and isn’t suitable for every type of game. But AdHoc Studio demonstrated that dismissing episodic structure entirely was premature. Under the right circumstances with the right content, it remains a viable and potentially powerful approach to game releases. Sometimes the craziest decisions turn out to be the smartest ones after all.