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Co-dev case study: How Blackbird Interactive and Secret Mode helped Escape the Backrooms ride the Backrooms hype wave

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Co-dev case study: How Blackbird Interactive and Secret Mode helped Escape the Backrooms ride the Backrooms hype wave

A co-dev partnership helped Fancy's hit game Escape The Backrooms reach over 4 million players.

Editor's note: After our excellent conversation with Blackbird Interactive and other co-dev experts on the Game Developer Podcast, we wanted to know more about the process and planning of co-dev projects. Today's dev-authored piece explores how an experienced co-dev studio helped a solo-developed game reach new audiences and solve fundamental production challenges.

The Backrooms is a creepypasta Cambrian Explosion of unprecedented scale. Over seven short years, it has ballooned into a shared universe encompassing massive wikis, viral videos, and a movie that just shattered several box office records (like best opening weekend for an original horror movie in history). All of this born from a single, eerie photograph posted on 4chan in 2019.

The Backrooms' influence on gaming has been no less pervasive. It almost single-handedly popularized the aesthetic of liminal spaces, becoming a clear reference point for other hit games like The Exit 8 (which also got its own film last year). On Steam, there are over 270 released games with at least one review that use Backrooms in their title—over 85 of them launching in 2025. But none of these projects have managed to eclipse the popularity of one game in particular: Escape the Backrooms.

Related:Ubisoft Montreal employees launch collective action to preserve hybrid work schedule

With over 4 million players across PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch 2, Escape the Backrooms has become the most popular way to explore this extradimensional, puke-yellow maze of fluorescent lights and musty carpet.


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