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there used to be a saying among script-killing enthusiasts: one day of script-killing is like one year in the real world.

this immersive board game has attracted many young people who are eager to socialize offline and go into stores to experience a completely different life. some want to try their hand at detective work, some want to relieve stress and heal themselves, and some even want to find a way out of being single.

during the mid-autumn festival, the script-killing industry showed polarization:some script-killing stores have successfully attracted a large number of customers through careful planning and marketing, and their stores are always packed; however, a considerable number of stores are deserted and are in trouble.

room of a script-killing store. photo provided by the interviewee

in the eyes of many industry insiders, the former is lucky, and the latter is the norm, because the popularity of script-killing games has continued to cool down since last year. in april 2024, the national offline script-killing game revenue was 180 million yuan.this is a decrease of 110 million yuan compared to the same period last year.

image source: dazhong news client

when hiking, camping, music festivals, concerts, etc. have firmly captured the hearts of young people, can script-based killing, which is showing signs of being "outdated", still have a place to attract young people?

there is a store every 10 steps

the cold wave of bankruptcy swept quietly

the origin of script-killing is the "murder mystery" that was born in the uk in the 19th century. it is one of the most popular party games in europe and the united states. at the end of the 20th century, this game was introduced to my country and became popular among white-collar workers in big cities. in 2013, commercial script-killing stores began to appear in china. in 2016, script-killing games emerged as a new force in the offline leisure and entertainment industry and quickly became popular across the country.

in 2017, there were only over 1,000 script-killing stores registered in china, but by december 2019, the number of offline stores nationwide had soared to 12,000. according to data from meituan research institute, there were 45,000 script-killing stores in china in april 2021. on a script-killing street in a first-tier city, "there is a store every 10 steps."

after years of development, the script-killing industry chain has been gradually improved, covering four links: authors, distributors, stores, and players. script-killing operator sun haofan told reporters that authors and distributors at the upper reaches of the industry chain "eat meat" and hold the initiative, while stores "drink soup" and often ask the former to provide "city exclusive copies" or "city limited copies" to gain a competitive advantage.

the script cabinet in the script-killing store. photo provided by the interviewee

but after many businesses flocked in, the script-killing industry experienced a roller coaster-like ups and downs in the number of stores in the next three years.

in may 2021, moose opened its first script-killing store in shanghai and expanded rapidly, with 6 stores at its peak and a total investment of more than 2 million yuan. however, as time goes by, the craze for the script-killing industry seems to have subsided, and now the number of moose stores has shrunk to 3.

this cold wave seems to be quietly sweeping across the entire script-killing industry. it is understood that the number of script-killing stores in shanghai alone has dropped sharply from more than 2,000 at its peak to 600 to 700 today. the situation in other major cities is similar.

market competition is trapped in a vicious circle

let the entire industry be drained of vitality

the cooling of the script-killing market is primarily due to the decrease in the number of players. as the novelty gradually fades, the enthusiasm of those non-experienced players who have only tried it for a short time has also receded like a tide, leaving only a group of hardcore veteran players. the market has thus fallen into a battle for existing players.

during the mid-autumn festival, veteran player shao linlin invited seven or eight friends to play the game, but none of them had enough people. "it takes six people to play a game, and it's getting harder and harder to form a team. friends who used to play with me either got 'tired' of script-killing games or said they didn't have time."

in addition to the players' waning enthusiasm, practitioners also seem to be facing a collision between ideals and reality, especially the most critical dm (game host).

in script-killing games, excellent dms are indispensable souls, and their presence is crucial to the entire gaming experience. an excellent dm needs to have accurate expression skills, tolerance, responsibility, empathy, perseverance, and ambition. they must not only be able to guide players into the plot, but also be able to constantly improve themselves to keep the game fresh. but now, many excellent dms have left script-killing stores.

posters of script-killing characters. photo provided by the interviewee

eventually, the store owners had to put more thought into the scripts. but in the opinion of lao wang, a script-killing operator, the script content nowadays seems to have gone to another extreme: "the content is becoming more and more profound and complicated, which makes the threshold for players very high."

in addition, a veteran who has been in this industry for seven or eight years also revealed to reporters the undercurrents in the industry: inexplicable negative reviews have sprung up on platforms such as dianping and meituan; in order to snatch talents, some stores have spent a lot of money to poach them; even worse, they broke into the store without an appointment, took pictures of the script cabinet, secretly opened the script box, stole the clue cards, and even scribbled on the script to ruin the game experience...

script-killing room. photo provided by the interviewee

these behaviors not only affect the normal market competition environment, but also seriously damage the overall reputation of the script-killing industry. in the long run, fewer and fewer people will be willing to join this industry, and the vitality and innovation ability of the industry will gradually dry up.

after "wild growth"

what is the future of script-killing?

amidst the overwhelming bearish sentiment towards the script-killing industry, some people are holding on and are confident. in lao wang's eyes, the current cooling of script-killing is a large-scale bursting of the market bubble, which is a huge opportunity in his eyes, and he just happened to catch the peak of this wave of development.

lao wang's script-killing chain brand ti has so far opened 66 chain stores in 13 provinces and cities across the country. since the beginning of this year, he has been buying up a large number of script-killing stores in china that have closed due to poor management. in his words, this is called "joint venture."

in fact, a counterintuitive fact is that from the perspective of the overall market environment, the script-killing market is in short supply. according to statistics from professional platforms, the script-killing market supply can only meet 92%-93% of the demand. in contrast, in the leisure and entertainment industry, the supply-demand ratio of ktv, internet cafes, billiards, etc. is greater than 1.

another indisputable fact is that compared with other entertainment industries, the current script-killing operators do have problems with irregular operations and even "grassroots teams". a script-killing operator told reporters that a healthy script-killing store should have management personnel, front-line service personnel, as well as personnel, finance, and training personnel. the key to breaking the deadlock lies in the three words "standardization".

"we require store managers, customer service staff, and hosts to have standardized management processes before, during, and after sales to ensure players' trust in the brand and each store," said lao wang.

in addition, standardized stores can give potential customers a stable expectation in terms of service and experience while ensuring quality. this will also help new players and target audiences to feel confident walking into the store and experiencing script-killing games.

the healthy development of the industry requires operators to have a broader vision, not only to retain existing players, but also to innovate boldly, improve service quality and game experience, and attract more new players to join. only by continuously expanding the market pie can the industry continue to prosper. after experiencing "wild growth", script-killing games are waiting for domestic practitioners to explore and create a set of standards and systems that conform to china's national conditions.

chao news reporter tu chenxin yu