Success of Dispatch boosts episodic games with peak of 131 thousand on Steam

The narrative choice game Dispatch, a superhero comedy set in an office environment, is convincingly demonstrating that the episodic game format can be highly effective. The release of the two new episodes yesterday propelled the series to even greater popularity than that seen at its launch.

The number of simultaneous players of Dispatch reached a peak of 131,000 players on Steam yesterday, which is already a significant success for a single-player narrative game. The feat is even more remarkable when you consider that the number doubled compared to the previous week's release, proving the strength of the episodic format. The impressive milestone of 1 million sales of Dispatch is expected to be surpassed soon.

The sustained strategy of releasing two episodes per week over four weeks is allowing the promotion to circulate and the audience to grow, creating a virtuous cycle of anticipation, similar to that of a TV series. There is a great chance that the number of players will continue to grow until the end of the Dispatch series on November 12.

The success is also amplified by the partnership with Critical Role, the megagroup of celebrity voice actors. Although listed as the publisher of the game, Critical Role did not play a traditional editorial role, according to the developer AdHoc. The collaboration is actually focused on the next game from AdHoc: a Critical Role game. The influence of Critical Role is huge, with the involvement of some voice actors from the group, such as the award-winning Laura Bailey and her husband Travis Willingham, and active promotion on social media.

However, the exceptional performance of Dispatch was only possible thanks to the quality of the game and the fast pace of episode releases. This is an episodic game model executed correctly.

The narrative game Dispatch by AdHoc reached a peak of 131,000 simultaneous players on Steam with the release of the new episodes, doubling the number from the launch week and proving the success of the episodic format. The series is expected to continue growing until November 12. Epic Games has a partnership with Critical Role, which is more focused on an upcoming game.