Room Escape Artist

“What is the future of the escape games industry?”

We frequently hear this question and, over time, we’ll continue to address this.

Often, we address the pervasive belief that the haunted house industry will subsume the young room escape industry.

So… Will haunted houses consume escape games?

In short… No.

According to CNBC, in 2013, the haunted house industry consisted of 2,500 attractions worldwide, driving $300 million in business.

That $300 million was a tiny portion of the $7 billion in spending driven by Halloween that year.

And Halloween, along with the haunted house industry, is ultimately seasonal.

Like pumpkin spiced everything, the haunted house industry has fallen off the cultural radar by Thanksgiving. It has to make money fast.

While its future is uncertain, the room escape business is not a seasonal attraction. It has a lot more potential, as long as its stewards, the individual escape room operators, take actions to help the industry thrive.

There aren’t a lot numbers yet for the escape room industry, but I am betting that worldwide escape rooms are already rivaling the haunted house industry, if only because their doors are open year-round. We have well over 300 companies listed on our map, and that number grows on a weekly basis.

Additionally, if everyone wanted to experience horror all of the time, there would be a lot more big budget horror films and television shows.

The horror niche is real. There’s good money there. It’s not a juggernaut.

Haunted houses & escape rooms

Horror escape rooms & haunted houses with escape rooms are a thing. They’re going to thrive.

They’re important: their future is pushing one another to achieve more.

Haunted houses can teach escape rooms how to build incredible, detailed, and durable environments for players to explore.

Escape rooms can teach haunted houses to build experiences that engage more than a fight or flight response.

Both industries can and will push one another forward. Neither will consume the other.