Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "ADHOC'S DISPATCH HITS 3-YEAR SALES TARGET IN JUST 3 MONTHS"

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠Join The Normandy For Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here: ⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠Join Analytic Dreamz as he unpacks DISPATCH, the breakout 2025 episodic superhero comedy that sold over 1 million copies in its first 10 days and instantly became a GOTY contender. Developed by AdHoc Studio (ex-Telltale and Ubisoft talent), this anime-styled interactive series follows depowered hero Robert “Mecha Man” Robertson III (Aaron Paul) running the Superhero Dispatch Network in an alternate LA, assigning reformed villains to crises via real-time strategy dispatching and high-stakes hacking minigames.After a brutal 7-year development filled with COVID shutdowns, layoffs, skipped paychecks, and a near-death collapse, Critical Role Productions swooped in mid-2025 to fund Season 1, merch, comics, and future Exandria projects. Launched October 22, 2025 across PC (Steam) and PS5 with weekly two-episode drops, the complete 8-episode season wrapped November 12. Priced at $29.99 (Deluxe with artbook + comics), it peaked at 131K concurrent players, hit Steam global #1, and smashed its 3-year “bull case” sales goal in just three months.Analytic Dreamz breaks down the innovative AFK-able dispatch system, branching dialogue, hero synergies and rivalries, the star-packed voice cast (Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Jacksepticeye, MoistCr1TiKaL, Alanah Pearce, Yung Gravy + Matthew Mercer as Shroud), stunning pre-rendered animation by Igloo Studio, 19 accessibility options, and why the “interactive TV” pacing feels like peak Arcane meets The Boys.Despite minor launch bugs (quickly patched) and criticisms around episode length and illusion-of-choice moments, DISPATCH earned 89–90 Metacritic, 97% Steam positive (50K+ reviews), and universal praise for writing, emotional depth, comedy, and revitalizing the Telltale episodic formula. Community hype, influencer cast virality, and Critical Role crossover fueled massive weekly discourse and “Invisigal cleared” memes.With developers openly teasing Season 2 and Aaron Paul leaving the door “definitely ajar,” Analytic Dreamz analyzes if DISPATCH just saved and redefined narrative gaming in 2025. Full stats, sales records, dev quotes, and hidden details inside – tap in now on Notorious Mass Effect!Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Now, before I get into what I believe is one of the greatest games of 2015, we have to start off with the very interesting journey of ad hoc studios. Because as far as creators out there, as far as establishments out there, safe to say that this is the epitome of a life lesson as the continuation, the resilience of ad hoc led it into having. one of the most outstanding games of 2025. And with that being said, I'm going to get into my personal review in the second half of this,

because of course, this is my official sales and review roundup of dispatch. But as far as me personally, let's just say I played the game and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Shepard, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? I look at the state of gaming, and there's not too many games that I could pinpoint

that has this level of creativity especially from the story the writing the voice acting etc but let me go back to what I was talking about in the beginning as far as this being a life lesson for independent creators out there and establishments that fund their own operation right as with ad hoc specifically founded in 2018 by former telltale slash Ubisoft slash night school devs which you have Michael I don't even not to say that. I ain't going to lie to you. Chung?

I think it's Chung. Nick Herman, Dennis, Lenart, Pierre Choretty. When it comes to that, the original dispatch game was conceived as a live action interactive project inspired by ESPN's.

This is SportsCenter, which is crazy because of what we what the final product was really reminiscent of the office. Shout out to everybody who watched or is currently watching the office. you're definitely culture. So that being said,

this project was shelved during COVID-19 and it briefly pivoted to the Wolf Amongus 2 co-development, but they basically separated because of creative differences. You guys.

See, that's the problem. So now, when you retooled the game, because at first, there was one to make it more of a TV show, right? Now it's more of an actual video game.

as far as them putting in interesting mini games and things that nature as far as you being able to dispatch certain heroes but at first it's supposed to be a whole tv show so a lot of the industry struggles that i'm about to get into is basically a whole life lesson as there was all type of industry layoffs around the COVID time and of course ad hoc studios uh layoffs nearly shut down the team but then the founders reportedly skipped paychecks for six months six months ladies and gentlemen of no money that is insane so that being said july 2025 critical role productions came to save the day i know that ain't who i think it is they saw ad hoc studios and they said to themselves i know that ain't who i think it is and critical role productions ended up funding the completion of

season one, merch, tabletop, game, animated series, and of course, the future Exandria game as far as the Critical Role universe. So definitely huge kudos to Critical Role production because once again,

consistency, resilience, and somebody, you know, the universe works in mysterious ways, but as long as you consistently put forth the effort and you showcase a good, well in this case, a great, a phenomenal product, may come save you like Superman, Spider-Man, and Batman, right?

So when it came to superheroes specifically, that's basically what critical role productions was, as far as them being a superhero themselves, as a production team funding a lot of the execution. So anyways, now we have the game that's out now. All eight episodes are out. One through eight episodes from dispatches out now on PC and PS5, and

Shepard All right my fault I was going to make a joke but let's just say it's only on PC and PS5 I was going to say and Xbox

but pour one out for Xbox because once again they do not have a game on their platform Shepard just look at the state of gaming like what is going on all of these hand-me-downs

from Steam that Xbox is getting just to not be listed as platforms for dispatch has to be frustrating for Phil Spencer because at the end of day if you have and Xbox, you could get Steam through,

could you? Now, you really can't. Well, dang. Well, maybe. I don't know. If you have a handheld, like the Xbox Rock ally, you should be able to play dispatch through Steam, right? So as far as the actual console,

I'm not too sure about that. Anyways, back to me, you know, getting off of making jokes about Xbox. So dispatches on PC and PS5, does no Xbox or Switch announced, and I guess it was due to budget constraints or, you know, narrative, or audience targeting or whatever,

basically they ain't want to put on those platforms because it's not like this is the most graphically intensive game, even though it is phenomenal as far as from a graphic perspective. But when it comes to the other platforms, they just said, they was like, let's put it on PC and PS5.

And when Xbox and Nintendo Switch asked about if they was going to get dispatched, ad hoc said, so anyways, it's not on those platforms. But if you was wanting to buy this game, is 2999 and then of course they have a deluxe edition which of course hilariously because i haven't even said this yet but shout to everybody who watch my live stream as far as the dispatch live stream on whatever well not whatever platform you listen to live stream on i'm not going to shameless

plug that just go to analytic dreams video on spotify to see the video along with audio and my whole entire dispatch is on that platform so anyway shout to everybody who's engaged with the live stream while i was playing uh dispatch so the reason why i'm saying all that is because the the lex edition you know that the promotional aspect of it was it was very interesting and what do i mean by that well once i find it i'll definitely tell you because as far as the net ease route right the net ease route seems to be the best route to take if you want to sell extra micro transactions ladies and gentlemen let me switch my screen ladies and gentlemen analytic dreams video on spotify to see the video along

with the audios because what you're seeing right now like this is the original uh promotional art for dispatch this is the deluxe edition this is the deluxe edition in 4k and because i'm a great tech guy i may have blown up the image just just so just so shepherd all right my fault let me let me zoom back out but basically you get the point the the promotion for the deluxe edition for dispatch i mean drop a bomb for ad hoc Adhawk basically said to themselves, net ease isn't the only studio that can get Guna Bate off to push your micro transactions. So as far as micro transactions, I've heard that the comics is what the deluxe edition is for. It's not anything in game.

It's basically an art book plus four digital comics. And the reason why I showed that picture is because, let's just say, the Guna Bate is through the roof. Let's just put it like that. And, you know, a little bit of the game is also Gunaugher Bates. bay as well but you know we're gonna get to that in a second so the four digital comments i'm not gonna spoil it for people who haven't read the comics let's just say it gives you a deep dive into certain questions that you want answered especially at the beginning when you want to know more about blonde blazer so let me put it like that so anyways the foul size is pretty small

as far as four gigabytes uh pre-rendered anime style cutscenes by igloo studio so like i said it's not the most graphically intensive so the reason why they didn't want to put it on xbox or nintendo you they basically said so anyways um shout out to erin paul because i believe this is his first ever voice acting role for a video game i could be wrong about that but robert robinson the third sound like me um who is the superhero name is beckaman voiced by erin paul is essentially the main character and using him you will be dispatching heroes that are now reformed quote unquote in the alt la superhero dispatch network which is you know titled sdn so there's a lot of real many games throughout uh dispatch but essentially speaking

i wanted to skip that because we're going to get back to it when i get my personal review right so talking about the story of their resilienceness almost going under because of layoffs literally 30, what was it, 30 employees? Yeah, 30 employees went six months. No, no, no, no. The founders reportedly skip paychecks for six months to keep 30 person staff afloat. If that's not sacrificing, then I don't know what it is. I know that ain't who I think it is.

So shout out to them. But anyways, all of that resulted into a phenomenal outing as far as season one for dispatch, to the point where not only was it surpassed. their three-year, quote-unquote bull case, I don't know what that means. Basically it says hits its three-year, quote-unquote bull case sales target in three months. So when it comes to the bull case,

hey, I'm just going to say they had a goal and they thought it was going to take them three years and guess what? They hit it in three months. And then more details about the sales is that not only was it one of the more popular games in the world currently, as of me recording this November 17, 2025 for people in the future.

It is the 10th most played game on PlayStation. But that's not the biggest thing I was wanting to showcase because, of course, when it first came out and it ended up breaking 130,000 our concurrent player count. But then, of course, when the last episode came out, now the all-time peak is five days ago, which is 220,000. So with that being said, when it comes to dispatch, they did. phenomenal out the gate a lot of people supported this product through purchasing it and playing it and of course they couldn't wait for the next episodes to release because at this point in time the whole

season is out if it was anything like me i was waiting every single wednesday for the next two episodes of dispatch and let's just say i was thoroughly entertained so now when you look at the the hunt when you look at it in hindsight as far as dispatch actually being a steam top seller as far as outselling Field 6 out the gate, or not out the gate, but you know, as far as having one million copies sold in the first 10 days and having a 70 to 80% rating on Steam, safe to say at a certain point, it was hired in Battlefield, but of course not currently. But that should show you the heights that it reached. Because of course, when this is structured like a TV show, usually out the gate is the best way to garner engagement because, of course, people are going to be waiting. and talking about the next episodes. I mean, I think Netflix even switched to that model as far as releasing episodes weekly

instead of just all at once. So, but I don't know if Netflix still does that as far as bulk dropping shows, but I'm pretty sure everybody switched to the episodic, every week type of a strategy. So dispatch really was rewarded for that. Everybody basically bought in and enjoyed the overall story

the ad hoc was given us as far as the office meeting superheroes it was a great blend of comedy action um just everything as far as the writing and the story was top tier this could have easily been a tv show by itself but now with the sales out of the way you already know that we have to hop into the review round those because of course i have my own personal review so the second half of this video, it will be spoiler heavy. So I'm giving you the warning right now. You're about to be spoiled if you haven't played dispatch. So getting into my personal coverage, uh, when my personal review of me playing the entire walkthrough, which once again is on analytic dreams video on Spotify. I believe this is one of my favorite games of 2025. If I was to have a list,

I will put it in my top four. I know what you're probably saying, man, that's a lot of games. Like a lot of people I think there was a stat that came out that like only 60% of players or gamers Play two or more games and one no no three or more games in one year No, no, only 60% of players Yeah 60% of gamers Play two or less games a year in my fall. I got that backwards So not a lot of people play a plethora games so for me to have a top four in one year I believe 2025 is one of the greatest years in gaming and

And when you look at it in the totality of things, I mean, you have split fiction, you have Expedition 33, you have Kazan, which nobody talks about for some reason. I don't know why. Donkey Kong Banazza is one of the greatest Nintendo games as far as in the Donkey universe in the Mario universe. Then you have, well, other games. I think Ready or Not should be up there. Then you have Arc Raiders. Ghost of Yote. I mean, the list goes on and on as far.

as one particular year and I'm talking all those games I just listed could be a game of the year contender and I don't think anybody would bat an eye right so now when I'm looking at dispatch from that perspective safe to say it's in my top four because number one of course my I keep saying throughout this year my favorite game and it's gotten you know it's definitely been contested here and there but in hindsight my favorite game of this entire year has been split fiction now number two it may surprise y'all because it's ready or not i know what y'all saying they already came out on pc years ago but guess what it came out on console this year so uh ready or not is in my top two and then of course number three i would have go see yote and then number four currently i have dispatch

so dispatch i think is one of the greater games i played in this year and i played a bunch of games if y'all watch my live streams on my uh video platform on spotify y'all already know I dive into a plethora of video games. I mean, Hollow Night Silk Song. I didn't even mention that, right? And I played that thoroughly, and I enjoyed it, but it wouldn't be in my top four. So getting back into dispatch. Safe to say, I really enjoyed the game.

I will say, one of the consistent critiques I had about the game is the ability, or the non-ability to control Robert in different environments as far as going around and talking to people. Because if this is an ex-tel-tel dev development team, putting the industry layoffs in the road to getting dispatch aside like putting that to the side but you're only caring about the final product I believe the final product should have implemented even if it was just one or two every other episode should have had segments where you controlled Robert and walked around and talked to different characters I think when it came to the

walking dead when it came to Batman that was some of the standout on oh I'm playing a telltale game because guess what now the interactive portion feels more interactive because we're actually controlling the main character so for an ex telltale development team as ad hoc studios is to not even have that entirely throughout the game it's kind of crazy to me but on the bright side the story and the gameplay that is implemented is so certain the story's top tier but the gameplay is so serviceable to where I believe season two can easily be better than season one if they add more interactive elements which you being able to control Robert. So that was one of my main critiques.

Now for me to get into the positives. The story, like I said, is the office meets superheroes in every single way possible. I know a lot of people are comparing this to Invincible. I don't think it's on that level. The power scaling of Invincible is pretty consistent. the power scaling and dispatch is not. And what I mean by that is for my ending, like I said,

it was getting the spoilers. I already said that, right? So for my ending, I had Invisible or Invisigal turn into a demon, right? I called her demon. Because she basically straight up kills Stroud at the end. But there are other endings that I've seen that make absolutely no sense. Now, as far as my ending,

it makes all the sense in the world. because I gave him both the prototype and the actual AstroPost, so he had to choose. He chose the wrong one. Everyone started throwing up, and then he was taken out by Invisigal. That makes all the sense in the world, right? Other endings where you give him the prototype trying to fool him, and he throws it away, and then you give him the real Astropost, so he powers up efficiently, and then he tries to shoot you, and then that's when Invisigal steps in and takes a bullet, and he barely hits Robert.

But the one critique I have about that ending is that if you're going to have an ending where he actually powers up and then he tries to take out Robert because now he gave a whole speech, oh, what's so powerful now? They, you know, they glowing red, all type of stuff. You think it's the end of the world. Even a dude that was holding Phenoma Man, he even got a tighter grip on Phenoma Man because he's like, yeah, I'm stronger now. And after that, Robert got up and literally beat Stroud. either to death or you could spare them, but that scenario made absolutely no sense. If you powered up efficiently, because there's scenes, no, those endings like I got, that he chose the wrong, he basically chose the prototype, so it starts to malfunction, right?

And then he got taken out, which makes all the sense in the world. But the thing about me being a Mass Effect fan, which, you know, I don't know if y'all could tell, but I'm a huge fan of games actually making your choices have consequences. right so anyways as far as the choice of him actually being able to power up because he actually has to write astropos him being taken out right after that makes zero sense and that never happens in Invincible right so for for people to compare dispatch to Invincible we got pumped the brakes I know that ain't who I think we got we got pumped the brakes right now I know that ain't who I think it is

I think y'all forgot. Invincible's top-tier storyteller. Like, so is dispatch, but it's not on the level of Invincible. The reason why I say the office is because as far as the comedy and the overall story beats, it's still top tier. But on a superhero type of story, the power scaling is everywhere to the point where there's a lot of missteps. And the most blatant one being the ending, right? I don't know what it is about video games. the more because you know i'm a mass effect fan so you know i have a soft spot for developers not getting certain endings right on the first try so now when you look at that aspect and you're like

well if you're going to compare it to invisible that had one of the greatest endings and in superhero tell superhero storytelling history as far as season one then it just does it a disservice right but as far as the quality i will say the comedic elements is on tier is on par with the office but i wouldn't compared to invincible. It's not the same type of story. You got to really treat it as a comedy rather than, oh, people can actually die, right? So anyways, with that being said, that's basically my main positive and critiques. I think is phenomenal. I think literally as far as the season two, you probably won't get it for a minute. Because I looked up about, I looked up a lot of things about season two.

And it was basically like, thank y'all for supporting about season two. I mean, we could just, I mean, we could think about it now. Like, huh, what? You mean you didn't already think about season two, three? They was just trying to get season one out of the gate. And of course, referring back to how I started this segment, it all makes sense because of the road they went down to get out the game. So now, when you're looking at Aaron Paul, who's the main voice actor for Mechaman and saying the door is definitely, open a no he says quote in a variety interview the door is definitely a jar for more but realistically

the way that they barely got season one out i would say that we're at least three to four years away from season two and with that being said that's not the longest wait right i'm not trying to cast aspersion for a long development time because it is a video game at the end of the day and is also using animation so really they need all the time they could take to put out a buggy mess which you know even this specific game had as false as a lot of people came out

and they had criticisms as far as Invisigal's power being bugged right and then ad hoc had to come out themselves on Twitter or was it Twitter or Instagram I don't know it was one of them ad hoc basically came out and they said

we've patched Invisigal power bug and a lot of people was upset because even off of that there was a lot of soft locks in dispatch slash hacking now i never ran into any of these issues so i'm just giving you what the masses was saying because somebody was going through these issues or they wouldn't have complained about it right and actually showed proof so with that being said i do believe when it comes to the overall timeline for season two where at least four years away and i know you probably don't want to hear that but as far as the animation being top tier, as far as the gameplay

and how they want to improve it, the obvious ways they can improve it. I mean, if you're an ex-tel development team not having interactive moments with your main character, I mean, that's the most obvious way to improve it. That's so obvious to me,

it had to be a budget issue on why they didn't go that route, because they had it in every single tell-tale game. And just because you have a unique, unique gameplay loop where you're sending out different, heroes does not mean that you should take away one of the core elements of a telltale game which is controlling the main character walking around and have a branching dialogue with different

people so that's an easy way they can fix it in upgrade season two now as far as the story i'm not going to lie story uh season one is pretty fire you know the ending's a little shaky um certain endings are a little shaky my ending was fire you know what i'm saying like my ending made all the sense in the world we turn and visig out to a demon so she took out strow and i gave her both both the and the AstroPulse, so it made sense why he was depowered at the end to be taken out so easily. But for other endings where he actually powered up, him being taken out by Robert made no sense. So I think, you know, I got the best ending basically as well. I was trying to rub in your faces.

All right. Anyways, with that be it said, that's basically it. If you want to know about the game, you really have to play it to understand it. It's more of a TV show and your dispatching heroes as far as the gameplay loop. as far as the runtime, because I know a lot of people, when they hear a TV show, they're probably going to think of, oh, it's not that long, which you're correct. It's one to eight episodes, and I believe it's around eight to nine hours as far as gameplay. Obviously, if you pause it and talk, or, I mean, if you're just playing it as a casual, it should take you eight to nine hours. Now, with that being said, another thing I was one to touch on before we wrapped this up, because, of course, with dispatch, I could go on for

days. I mean, literally throughout the whole game, I was pausing it all throughout the gameplay walkthrough and it was like, oh, let me tell you all another thing. Let me tell you another thing. Like, added on to the lore because of course, the deluxe edition has a lot of comic books that breaks down certain relationships with certain characters. And while the story was playing out, some of the viewers didn't even know that. And I told them because, of course, it's not a spoiler. They released the deluxe of comics along with the episode. So, you know, as far as being informed that's what I do over here so I was like you know

let me tell you all little something I learned in the comics so anyways shout out to Ad Hoc at the end of the day I sincerely want Ad Hoc to take this as one of the most undisputed Ws because of resilience and the way that you overcame the

odds almost went under because of layoffs and show the fortitude to not only keep going but for the founders to take a pay cut like they did and to ultimately have one of the highest reviewed as far as positively like as far as positive ratings in the gaming ecosystem in the gaming industry of 2025 I mean that's a that's a that's a major accomplishment and a phenomenal feat and they sure hang their hats on being

not only being able to put this out but to make this as top tier quality as they did because I'm not going to lie to you, it's top tier storytelling. And the possibilities are endless. That's how good the story is. So sort of like, what was the people who stepped in to fund them? Sort of like, what's the name at? Well, whoever funded them, right? So as far as them funding them and giving them the budget to do a lot of things,

as far as the continuation of episode one and things that nature. You know, it's so funny. I was looking this up the whole time. All right, so here we go. I found it. Critical Role production. Shout out to them. If Ad Hoc could find another critical role productions

or if Critical Role can maybe up the production, pun intended, as far as being able to fast track it, but also keep inequality, I think that would be the best case scenario, with the current team, I think it's going to take at least four years to make this level of quality story and animation, different voices, et cetera, because you do have to switch it up. You can't just do more of the same. So to end off, I want to be mad if Dispatch got a Game of the Year nomination. Is that good?

It's one of the greater storytelling, one of the greater superhero stories I've seen in a minute and I've heard in a minute. So me as a huge superhero fan, best believe, I keep a ranking. And let's just say dispatch definitely provided better superhero content than Marvel and DC as far as the visual aspect. Because I was trying to think of Marvel video aspect. And when you look at dispatch, well, I guess there is Marvel rivals, but that didn't come out this year. Yeah, dispatch probably is the best offering as far as superhero. video video game content of 2025 i'm i'm comfortable saying that's probably the best superhero game in 2025 so yeah well that being said that's basically all i have to say i don't have any more

fun facts the tip is for you the main thing you need to know is that hey if you keep if you stay with it and you believe in your high quality product first you got to make a high quality if you believe in your high quality product and show enough consistency then at some point the universe will reward you Because they always say when preparation meets opportunity, then we have success. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is an old man TED Talk. So thank you for coming to my TED Talk. So that means, I click my link to share in my bio.

Let me know on one of my social media. So what do you think about dispatch? And do you believe that dispatch is one of the greatest games of 2025? And if you play dispatch, who is your favorite character?