The escape-room games industry is booming
economist.com
The escape-room games industry is booming
1–10 of 97 posts
Re: The escape-room games industry is booming
#2I can't read the full article but it the preview seems oddly mixed in whether its talking about how there are fire hazards vs. how they're a successful business model.
Either way, I enjoy them. I do, however, think the business model could be a lot more scalable. Content providers should seek to either use the same space for multiple games, or use the same game across multiple scenarios.
This would be a great use case for current-tech level VR I think. Plop people into a correctly scaled virtual escape room in and bam, you can provide and deploy new content at the rate you can design it (perhaps physical locations not even needed).
Alternatively, build a spaceship, or a dungeon, or something else that can be generalized to different levels in the same basic space.
To anyone in the boston area, or, I suppose, Sweden, check out Boda Borg for what I think is a more entertaining take on them involving physical challenges, really abstract puzzles, and rapid feedback of try-fail-repeat.
Re: The escape-room games industry is booming
#3Whenever I see anything about modern escape rooms, I always remember Crystal Maze, a fantastic game show from the 90s in the UK.
Re: The escape-room games industry is booming
#4Honestly I fail to see their appeal. I did one and it was so boring. I think the main “appeal” is that it locks you in a room where everyone is forced to actually interact and not just stare at their phones. It seems to be mostly used for corporate outings or clubs, where people aren’t quite comfortable with each other yet. I’m thinking it would also be good for group dates. But for with your real friends with whom you can do other activities or even just have a good convo? It just seems a “forced creative experience”. The only reason the industry is “booming” is because it was non existent before and filled these specific niches. It will oversaturate very quickly.
Re: The escape-room games industry is booming
#5Whenever I see anything about modern escape rooms, I always remember Crystal Maze, a fantastic game show from the 90s in the UK. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Maze
I loved the Crystal Maze as a kid. It started back up again a couple years ago. It's now hosted by Richard Ayoade.
Re: The escape-room games industry is booming
#6I can't read the full article but it the preview seems oddly mixed in whether its talking about how there are fire hazards vs. how they're a successful business model. Either way, I enjoy them. I do, however, think the business model could be a lot more scalable. Content providers should seek to either use the same space for multiple games, or use the same game across multiple scenarios. This would be a great use cas…
There was a hackathon project I saw a couple years ago where you had to defuse a bomb in VR. Not quite an escape room project but the potential there is clear.
Re: The escape-room games industry is booming
#7> are explicitly about not having an easy way out
Really? I've done a dozen and in every single one, you could simply exit back from the door you entered from. The rooms were never truly about "escaping", at least past the lore and story. They are about searching for clues and solving puzzles. I've never been in one where we were explicitly locked inside. Generally you just make your way through and exit out a different door at the end.
Re: The escape-room games industry is booming
#8Honestly I fail to see their appeal. I did one and it was so boring. I think the main “appeal” is that it locks you in a room where everyone is forced to actually interact and not just stare at their phones. It seems to be mostly used for corporate outings or clubs, where people aren’t quite comfortable with each other yet. I’m thinking it would also be good for group dates. But for with your real friends with whom y…
Personally, I see the "Escape Room" boom as something akin to the "Fondue Party" craze in the 70's. It's a fun social outing... once. Eventually there won't be enough new customers to sustain the business model and they will disappear almost as quickly as they arrived.
I'm sure there are better example, particularly ones from the entertainment industry booms of the 1920's and 1950's but I just can't think of any off the top of my head.
Re: The escape-room games industry is booming
#9Honestly I fail to see their appeal. I did one and it was so boring. I think the main “appeal” is that it locks you in a room where everyone is forced to actually interact and not just stare at their phones. It seems to be mostly used for corporate outings or clubs, where people aren’t quite comfortable with each other yet. I’m thinking it would also be good for group dates. But for with your real friends with whom y…
Personally, I see the "Escape Room" boom as something akin to the "Fondue Party" craze in the 70's. It's a fun social outing... once. Eventually there won't be enough new customers to sustain the business model and they will disappear almost as quickly as they arrived. I'm sure there are better example, particularly ones from the entertainment industry booms of the 1920's and 1950's but I just can't think of any off…
Well, now you just need 18 other try-it-once fad businesses and then you can rotate through them all, one per year.
Re: The escape-room games industry is booming
#10Honestly I fail to see their appeal. I did one and it was so boring. I think the main “appeal” is that it locks you in a room where everyone is forced to actually interact and not just stare at their phones. It seems to be mostly used for corporate outings or clubs, where people aren’t quite comfortable with each other yet. I’m thinking it would also be good for group dates. But for with your real friends with whom y…
Maybe you got a bad one. As someone who has done a dozen, there's definitely a wide range in term of quality, but the good ones can tickle the puzzle solving itch really well. This is coming from someone who has played almost every puzzle video game out there.
It's definitely not for everyone, and I'll say, I personally like it better when there's only 1 or 2 others in the room; more than that gets too hectic for me.