Ex-Telltale devs’ AdHoc Studio revives episodic gaming with Dispatch selling 1 Million units in 10 days
Episodic storytelling games are back on the map as a stack of ex-Telltale Games veterans banded together to form AdHoc Studio and released Dispatch, which surpassed one million sales in just ten days after its October 22 launch on PS5 and PC.
AdHoc took to X and celebrated the milestone with cheek-in-tongue humor, announcing, “2 days. 80 million copies sold. Would’ve been nice. We sold 1 million in 10 days, though. Still pretty good.”
Dispatch has been critically acclaimed by gamers and critics alike, earning a 91% Very Positive Steam user rating from 20,000 reviews. On Metacritic, Dispatch has been rated Generally Favorable with a score of 84/100 based on 5 critic reviews. In a similar vein, gamers have given it a 9.3 user score based on 178 reviews.
It’s no secret that Telltale started crumbling in 2018, casting an empty void in episodic games based on choice and consequences. Even titles like Life is Strange’s spin-offs failed to allure fans, with Life is Strange: Double Exposure bombing commercially. However, Dispatch came to the rescue, serving as a breath of fresh air.
AdHoc Studio was founded by former Telltale alumni, including co-founder and CCO Pierre Shorette, who has been credited for The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands, The Walking Dead, and Batman: The Telltale Series.
Beyond the comedic superhero satire story, AdHoc pulled some strings to cast memorable voice actors and content creators. In Dispatch, players step into the shoes of Robert Robertson, AKA Mecha Man, voiced by Aaron Paul.
Now demoted to a dispatcher after his suit’s destruction, Robert is tasked with managing a ragtag team of rehabilitated supervillains, featuring Jeffrey Wright as Track Star, Laura Bailey as Invisigal, and internet celebrities like Jacksepticeye, MoistCr1TiKaL, Alanah Pearce, and Matthew Mercer.
Similar to Telltale's classic episodic structure, Dispatch, a superhero comedy title, launched with episodes 1 and 2 on October 22, followed by episodes 3 and 4, which were released last week. Dispatch episodes 5 and 6 are scheduled to release on November 5, 2025, at 9 AM PDT. The final pair of episodes is scheduled for Wednesday, November 12.
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