Why AdHoc Studio Ignored Investors to Make Dispatch
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
AdHoc Studio co-founders explain how stubbornness and a refusal to chase live service trends helped them secure funding for Dispatch despite investor skepticism.
When developers pitch singleplayer narrative games to traditional publishers, they usually run into a wall of spreadsheets. During a recent talk at GDC reported by PC Gamer, AdHoc Studio co-founders Nick Herman and Dennis Lenart discussed the grueling funding process behind their hit game Dispatch. Having founded the studio in 2018 after leaving Telltale Games, the team repeatedly heard the same refrain from financiers who pointed to live service metrics and declared narrative games to be a dead or dying genre.
Instead of pivoting to chase market trends or forcing their vision into an open world action format, the team relied on a healthy mix of stubbornness and belief in their own craft. Herman joked that their decision to ignore the data and push forward was fueled by a mix of arrogance and stupidity. Lenart added that the studio wanted to lean directly into their strengths rather than compromise on caveats, noting that just because a studio can make an open world RPG does not mean they should.
For players and creators alike, the success of Dispatch is a welcome reminder that creative conviction still matters in an industry too often obsessed with predictable monetization and safe bets. When traditional investors rely solely on past data to gatekeep funding, stubborn developers willing to bet on themselves are often the ones who deliver the most memorable experiences. You can read the original reporting over at Rock Paper Shotgun.
Tags: Dispatch, AdHoc Studio, GDC, Industry News, Singleplayer
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun