Backrooms Games Soar in Popularity Alongside Film's Box Office Success

gamemeca Ⅰ Lee Woo Min 2026.06.04 15:56 UTC+9

TL;DR (2-3 Sentence Summary)

The box office success of the film 'The Backrooms' is positively impacting certain Backrooms-themed games. 'The Backrooms' is an internet creepypasta depicting the horror of an infinite, inescapable world set in mundane spaces decorated with yellow wallpaper. It gained significant attention online starting in 2022, leading to numerous related creative works including videos and games. The horror film 'The Backrooms,' released in South Korea on May 27th, is one such example. Notably, Kane Parsons, who directed a found-footage film that contributed to the Backrooms' popularity in 2022, took the helm, drawing considerable interest even before its release.

영화 '백룸' 포스터 (사진출처: CGV 홈페이지) — ▲ 'The Backrooms' movie poster (Image courtesy: CGV website)

The box office success of the film 'The Backrooms' is having a rather positive knock-on effect on some of its game counterparts.

Famously, 'The Backrooms' is an internet creepypasta that delves into the existential dread of being trapped in an endless, liminal space adorned with sickly yellow wallpaper. It first shot to online notoriety around 2022, spawning a slew of creative works, including films and, crucially for us, games.

One such cinematic venture is the horror film 'The Backrooms', which landed in South Korea on May 27th. It garnered significant pre-release buzz, particularly as it's directed by Kane Parsons, the very individual who fuelled the Backrooms' popularity with a similarly themed fake documentary back in 2022. Proving the hype was real, the film pulled in over 500,000 domestic viewers within its first eight days, setting a new opening record for A24 productions in the region. It then went on to top the North American box office charts in its opening weekend on the 29th.

Amidst this cinematic triumph, major games based on the Backrooms lore have also timed their updates perfectly, riding the coattails of the film's popularity. 'Backrooms: Escape Together' launched a new level update and a film collaboration event on the 29th. Meanwhile, 'Escape the Backrooms' has seen a flurry of patches addressing quality-of-life improvements, bug fixes, and the introduction of cross-play, alongside its console version release.

The results? Both games have experienced a noticeable surge in their daily concurrent player counts on Steam, kicking off around the 29th. 'Backrooms: Escape Together' saw its average player count, which hovered around the 1,000 mark, jump to 9,000 as of the 4th – a staggering nine-fold increase. 'Escape the Backrooms' also witnessed a significant boost, climbing to over 16,000 concurrent players, more than doubling its previous figures of 7,000-8,000.

백룸: 이스케이프 투게더 스크린샷 (사진출처: 스팀) — ▲ Screenshot from 'Backrooms: Escape Together' (Image courtesy: Steam)

이스케이프 더 백룸 스크린샷 (사진출처: 스팀) — ▲ Screenshot from 'Escape the Backrooms' (Image courtesy: Steam)

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Lee Woo Min, Reporter

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Backrooms Games Soar in Popularity Alongside Film's Box Office Success