The first season of Dispatch recently ended, and given the reception and huge sales, it's safe to say the episodic release plan didn't hinder the game. The opposite proved true for 2016's Hitman, where IO Interactive gradually released levels, and now the studio is taking notes from AdHoc Studios' success.
Chatting to GamesIndustry.biz, Hakan Abrak, the CEO of IO Interactive, revealed he's been enjoying Dispatch. "I'm playing Dispatch myself, I think half of the globe is. It's freaking fantastic, it's a very, very nice game," he starts, before discussing the differences between AdHoc's project and what IO was trying to achieve.
"We were, for sure, too early with the concept, and there were many, many mistakes made," he says. "We were also banging on that one Hitman level can yield 50 hours plus of gameplay, whereas the Dispatch structure is a bit different. It's a much more episodic format, where yes, you can go back and kiss Mandy, or not kiss her – I actually went back and replayed that part – but when there's less replay opportunity, then you want to have the next episode coming sooner."
For Agent 47, IO essentially split the game into mini-sandboxes. The first game in the modern trilogy arrived stage by stage. A novel concept, but one players really didn’t enjoy a decade ago, leading to Hitman 2 and 3 coming out as more complete packages.
But the positivity around Dispatch suggests people are more ready for that kind of release situation, so long as the wait times are minimal and the devs maintain communication. Abrak believes there are conversations to be had around formatting and scale to match other mediums.
"What is the future of gaming? Do all games need to be 40 hours?" he muses. "One of the things I enjoy a lot is short TV series, just six episodes, especially the British ones. I love that, it's not too long."
He adds that IO is "thinking about these things for future installments," perhaps suggesting another experiment for Agent 47 is in the offing. First, though, we have 007 First Light, coming March 27, 2026.
