“Creating Dispatch Took Years Like GTA 6, But Season 2 Could Arrive Sooner”

Dispatch seems like a game destined for success, having sold a million copies in just 10 days. While it may have missed out on most awards, it still made it onto several best-of lists for the year. However, the journey to this point was far from smooth. The game took years longer to develop than anticipated, facing near collapse multiple times, and it only succeeded because the team persevered long enough to see it through. “We’re taking GTA 6 amounts of time on this shit,” said writer and co-founder Pierre Shorette, reflecting on the lengthy development of Dispatch Season 1. This episodic superhero workplace comedy spent nearly seven years in the making, not due to endless refinement, but rather due to struggles with funding, shifting plans, and sheer survival. The silver lining is that the groundwork is now laid, meaning a potential Season 2 could be developed much more quickly.

Game director Nick Herman candidly shared how close Dispatch came to being scrapped. “We had a publisher who dropped us halfway through because of … financial things,” he explained. Shorette contextualized this moment within the broader industry turmoil, stating, “The industry was collapsing … We were right there,” and noted that without contract work to keep them afloat, “we would have died three years ago.” For years, the project faced rejection, with Shorette recalling, “You have basically everyone tell you it’s a bad idea for seven f—ing years,” while Herman remembered being advised, “This is dumb, don’t do it.”

Initially, Dispatch was not the game players know today. It started as a live-action interactive TV project, which was halted by COVID. Early drafts were darker and more limited, focusing on a single hero instead of a full team. Over time, the game transformed into a lighter, broader experience, evolving into the dispatch system and the ensemble of misfit superheroes that define it now. Interestingly, the main character Robert was originally set to be voiced by actor Rahul Kohli, who is now starring in Saros, set to launch next April.

With Dispatch now released and performing well, the pressure has shifted. Shorette likened it to a musician following up a debut album: “You have your whole life to write your first album and eight months to write your second.” However, after such a lengthy wait for the first season, Dispatch is no longer starting from scratch, making a quicker follow-up much more feasible. Dispatch is currently available on PS5 and PC, with a launch for Switch and Switch 2 set for January 28.