When AdHoc Studio set out to fund Dispatch, a narrative-driven superhero workplace comedy, they encountered a brick wall of scepticism. Investors and publishers pointed to industry data suggesting that single-player narrative games could not generate sufficient returns. The live service era was ascendant, and potential partners were skeptical that singleplayer games in the Telltale model could turn enough of a profit to make the effort worthwhile. Yet the studio proceeded anyway.
After launching at the tail end of October 2025, it sold more than 3 million copies before the year's end, and at time of writing 97% of its over 165,000 reviews on Steam are positive. The game's performance represents a stark refutation of the market analysis that almost strangled it in development.
According to PC Gamer, at a presentation at this week's GDC Festival of Gaming in San Francisco, creative directors Nick Hermand and Dennis Lenart explained their thinking. Dispatch creative directors and Adhoc Studio cofounders Nick Hermand and Dennis Lenart said their narrative superhero game's development was an act of hubris, because the industry was convinced their game was dead in the water. When pitching to potential backers, even before leaving Telltale, Herman said he and Lenart had "spent years discussing how we'd innovate and improve on the formula" of choice-driven narrative games. But conviction alone would not unlock funding.
The two co-founders made a deliberate choice to trust their instincts. Herman suggested that if experienced narrative game developers would not push back against the prevailing wisdom that single-player story games were commercially obsolete, nobody would. The team lacked detailed knowledge of how they would overcome the financial obstacles, but they were aligned on making a game true to their strengths rather than chasing trends toward live service models or open-world action RPGs.
The development journey proved turbulent. They shopped said project to multiple game studios until they land a deal with an unnamed publisher for a year until they left mid-way development. Critical support eventually arrived from an unexpected quarter; in July 2025, Critical Role Productions announced a partnership with AdHoc Studio to make a video game set in Critical Role's world of Exandria, being similar in concept to Dispatch. The partnership also includes Dispatch merchandise, tabletop games, and an animated series.
What explains Dispatch's breakthrough success? Multiple factors converge. The game's weekly episode release schedule also contributed to its rapid success. Rather than releasing all episodes at once or spacing them widely apart, AdHoc opted for a cadence similar to traditional television, which maintains player engagement while building anticipation. AdHoc invested significant resources in the development of Dispatch, maintaining an internal team of about 30 employees while collaborating with animation studios in Thailand and Canada. Over three years, the studio worked on delivering high-quality animation and visuals, resulting in a polished presentation that stands out among narrative-driven titles released in the post-Telltale era. The cast, featuring Aaron Paul and Jeffrey Wright alongside voice actors from streaming communities, generated organic audience interest.
Yet the underlying appeal remains straightforward. Trying to get these games made when you're not some, you know, when you're in more of a niche audience like people think narrative games are. And I think we're hopefully proving that there can be a larger audience for these types of experiences. As Lenart observed in a separate interview, the simplicity of Dispatch's approach itself became a selling point in an industry saturated with complexity.
The game's achievement does not necessarily vindicate a wholesale industry shift toward narrative-led development. Live service games remain heavily funded for sound commercial reasons; success in that space is proven, if inconsistent. Dispatch's story instead reveals a gap in market thinking: assumptions about what audiences will pay for, and what developers should make, had calcified around data from successful franchises. A well-executed game in an underserved category, backed by sufficient production values and smart release strategy, found its audience waiting.
Whether AdHoc can sustain momentum with a Dispatch Season 2 remains uncertain. The studio has been cautious about committing to a sequel, mindful that a single breakthrough success does not guarantee a formula that can be repeated. Still, the developers at GDC this week made their point clear: sceptical investors were wrong, and their self-described "arrogance and stupidity" proved commercially sound.