Dispatch Sells 1 Million Copies in 10 Days; Next Episodes Out Tomorrow
- Dispatch hits 1 million sales in 10 days since its Oct. 22 launch.
- Episodes 5 and 6 drop Nov. 5 at 9 a.m. PST.
- Features Critical Role cast; more collabs and games coming.
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Look, Up In The Sky!
Dispatch, the superhero workplace comedy from former Telltale Games devs, was released on Oct. 22 and has already shifted 1 million copies. Developed and published by AdHoc, it follows former superhero Robert Robertson as he works at the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN) with a team of former villains, with the game being released two episodes at a time.
The first four are already out, and the next two will be dropped tomorrow (Nov. 5) at 9 a.m. PST. AdHoc has already said that it wants players to consider Dispatch more like an interactive TV show, in that there’s time between episodes to not just build up anticipation but also discuss what might happen next – without worrying about spoiling it by talking about future episodes other players haven’t tried yet.
Initial response to the game has been overwhelmingly positive, with the game hitting the top spot on Steam within a day of release, and now AdHoc has posted on X about its latest milestone: “2 days. 80 million copies sold. Would’ve been nice. We sold 1 Million in 10 days though. Still pretty good.”
Critical Role
Much has already been made about the star-studded cast, including noted video game writer Alanah Pearce and voice actor Matthew Mercer, plus AdHoc’s link with Critical Role. This latter company is best known for its Dungeons And Dragons campaigns, which have since spun-off into animated series and other media. The latest series, The Mighty Nein, is coming to Prime Video on Nov. 19.
As well as Critical Role members voicing characters in Dispatch, they also recently put out a “one-shot” video as their game characters. The two companies are set to continue their partnership in other ways, too: tabletop gaming and merchandise related to Dispatch are on the cards, as is a new video game set in the world of Exandria. This is the original fantasy world Critical Role created for its D&D campaigns, and also the setting for The Mighty Nein.
The Story So Far
The overall story of Dispatch follows Robert Robertson, aka Mecha Man, after a battle with the villain Shroud destroys Robertson’s mech-suit. Episodes one and two see Robertson enter the world of SDN and meet his team of former villains, as well as strike up possible romantic relationships with team members.
Episodes three and four, released last week, build on tensions between his team and his overall boss, Blonde Blazer. Meanwhile, Robertson keeps trying to repair his mech suit and deal with the fallout of episode three, which involves cutting a member from the team.
Team Building And Moving Parts
Each episode of Dispatch is around an hour long, but has replayability through making different decisions in conversations and certain situations (like fights). Each episode also includes actual dispatch segments, where players need to juggle team members, abilities, and interpersonal relationships, to get them to carry out city missions in as efficient a way as possible.
Players have already been vocal in terms of enjoying the story as it unfolds, although quite a few gamers have also requested that AdHoc in some way expand the actual dispatch segments, ideally in a standalone endless mode. However, AdHoc has responded to these requests in its Discord channel.
“Endless dispatching isn’t currently on our immediate wishlist of features to implement post-release. The way we built the dispatching system means that an endless mode would require major changes to core systems. It’s not completely out of the cards for this to change in the future, but for now, it’s not something folks should be expecting any time soon. Sorry for the disappointing answer. We are clocking it every time a player expresses interest in it.”
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