It’s been a year since independent game developer AdHoc Studio released its now-hit episodic narrative superhero adventure game “Dispatch,” and in that time the game has attracted over 5 million players. Now, the team behind the title (which has doubled in size since last October) has decided to celebrate its digital victory in the physical world. Titled “Dispatch: Night Shift,” the anniversary event is described as “a live, in-person entertainment experience.” Created by AdHoc as an exclusive one-night show taking place in December in Los Angeles, Night Shift will bring together the songs from the game and its original score on one stage, with the score acting as a connection between each set, just as it connects the game. Among those taking the stage at the live event is “Dispatch” composer Andrew Arcadi, who will perform the game’s original music live alongside select artists who contributed to the game’s soundtrack, including Thot Squad, Bershy, Primer, Caroline Kingsbury and Fartbarf, performing songs from “Dispatch” and their own albums. The “Dispatch: Night Shift” event will take place at the Avalon Hollywood nightclub in Los Angeles on December 3. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the Night Shift show will begin at 7 p.m. Because tickets are “extremely limited,” fans are encouraged to sign up for the AdHoc Studio email list to access early ticket sales at this link. Ticket presales will begin on October 28 with purchases limited to two tickets per person; More information is available at this link. Along with the live show, AdHoc celebrates “Dispatch”’s first birthday with other surprises. This includes a free Deluxe Edition upgrade that introduces two new behind-the-scenes modes: Commentary and Storyboard. Commentary Mode features over 16 hours of commentary from the cast and crew, and Storyboard Mode allows players to experience the entire game through the original storyboard animations. Current Deluxe Edition owners will have access to Commentary Mode and Storyboard Mode with a free upgrade, while Standard Edition owners can purchase the Deluxe Upgrade for $10.99. The company also announced that “Dispatch” is coming to mobile devices: the game will launch on Android and iOS, with support for Google Play Games on PC, starting December 9, 2026. The mobile release includes the base game, rebuilt for touch and vertical play. At launch, players will be able to access the first four episodes for free and unlock the full mobile version for $19.99. Additionally, AdHoc announced a lineup of “Dispatch” anniversary merchandise, featuring artwork by the game’s art director, Derek Stratton. Created for Dispatch’s three-disc soundtrack vinyl set, available exclusively through Lost In Cult, the designs can now be found on t-shirts and hoodies. Additionally, 100 posters featuring album art signed by Stratton will be available for purchase. AdHoc and Lost In Cult are also expanding their collaboration with a “Dispatch: Design Works” collection, which includes a hardcover book and a collectible box set featuring interviews from the cast, developers and more. Aaron Paul stars in “Dispatch” as the voice of Robert Robertson, aka Mecha Man, who is at the center of a dysfunctional team of misfit heroes. You play as dispatch operator Robert, who must strategize who to send to emergencies in the city, while balancing office politics, personal relationships, and his own quest to become a hero in a damaged suit. The game’s cast includes Laura Bailey (“The Last of Us Part II,” Critical Role), Erin Yvette (“Hades II,” “The Wolf Among Us”) and Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction,” “The Batman”). AdHoc COO Nick Herman and CEO Michael Choung, two of the studio’s founders, say the “Dispatch: Night Shift” concert-style experience has been in the works since January. At the time, several of the musicians involved in the “Dispatch” soundtrack asked if they could include elements of the game in their own live performances. “I felt like there was an opportunity here where our fans were going to their shows. Why don’t we create a place for everyone and basically do a mini festival and celebrate all of this,” says Herman. “As soon as we had the idea, we were like, ‘Okay, this is going to be overproduced, we’re going to go crazy.’ We’ve never produced a concert, so we’re working with Banter Events, who have experience in live events and they’ve been really great at teaching us how to do it. It’s kind of like ‘Dispatch,’ where we’ve never done a premium animated TV show through that channel. It’s nice not knowing because then you ask crazy things and then they say, ‘Okay, and then we’ll figure it out.'” Herman has had “Night Shift” “written in the top corner in permanent marker” for the team since the beginning of the year, when the game was coming off a peak of impressive initial sales and multiple nominations at the Game Awards 2025. “There was certainly a plan, but I will say that the energy, especially in January, was more drunk than sober in the sense that success swept us all away,” Choung says. “We had no idea what that was, we just had to do something. And then Nick said, let’s do this. We signed up not knowing anything about how to do these things.” Herman says the release of “Dispatch” “has given us confidence in our instincts.” “This is our first original as a studio, the first original IP we’ve done as creatives,” Herman says. “So every time a weird idea comes up, we think, ‘Well, maybe it’s not that weird, the latest weird idea works.’ We’re very excited and optimistic about the future of what we’re doing and what our teams are building.” Choung adds: “I think one of the things that success has meant to us, which is also completely new, is a blank page. And that’s both a benefit and a curse for a writer. It’s like the best thing you can give to someone. It’s the worst thing you can give to someone. So we’re filling it with things we never thought we could do. We’re also not in a crazy rush to fill it, because the potential and the possibilities of a blank page are so exciting. So there are a lot of ideas and a lot of thoughts within it. study about what could be next, what we should be doing.”
