Escape the app launches live-gaming experience

A virtual reality-powered live video experience which allows gamers to participate in real escape rooms from anywhere in the world, will go live with its Kickstarter campaign to help the experience industry weather COVID-19 shutdowns.

Escape the App is an innovative mobile app which enhances the experience of playing real life escape rooms and virtual escape games via connective gamification. It saw firsthand the devastation wrought on escape rooms when they were forced to close their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some escape room owners reconfigured their rooms to offer video experiences to accommodate online gaming during lockdown but in most cases, maintaining a separate video experience along real-life games will be difficult in the longer term when physical venues open once again.

Daniel Ivanovic, founder and CEO of Escape the App said, “The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the experience industry and forced escape game owners to provide live video alternatives of their games. The technical solutions available to escape game owners are limited, and come with a recurring license fee for video streaming. For the host, holding or housing the recording device can be difficult in the more physically challenging rooms, and it’s hard for hosts to replicate the same immersion and atmosphere for the player.

“Redesigning their experiences for an online audience is time consuming and could be unworkable when physical spaces open their doors once again. We realised that there must be a better way– one which enhances the escape room experience while also helping escape room owners to welcome players from around the world and sustain their business long term.”

Escape the App’s solution gives the live video experience a powerful upgrade with VR-powered video streaming layered on top of the tried and tested game-play features of Escape The App. Branded VR goggles and an immersive game screen put players right in the heart of the room. The goggles allow the host to move freely around even the most physically challenging spaces, with everything the host sees recorded in real time and streamed to the players, who could be in multiple different locations worldwide, simultaneously.

Ivanovic adds, “Our VR live gaming takes the escape room experience up a notch and makes it easy for players from around the world to come together online for a fully immersive game. Players can find and book live escape room games anywhere in the world, join the games master in the waiting room and then, once the game starts, guide the host through the room, solving the puzzles to escape by seeing exactly what the host sees.”

Escape room owners can subscribe to the app for a fixed monthly fee per room. They’ll receive Escape the App VR goggles and can host unlimited games through the month. Players can book real-life games at their existing price and play them using live video anywhere in the world via an Escape The App web link at no additional cost, or subscribe for a low monthly fee to receive Escape the App’s VR goggles to upgrade their gaming experience.