The article seems to really gloss over the fact that the "escape the room" concept was a media trope or even subgenre before this industry exploded. The history

The article seems to really gloss over the fact that the "escape the room" concept was a media trope or even subgenre before this industry exploded. The history discussion skips the years that the concept really started becoming popular in media. The best-known examples are probably in the Saw franchise, but it's also a popular genre in casual gaming. As far as I remember, it really took off ~15 years ago with Toshimitsu Takagi's Flash games (Crimson Room, Viridian Room, White Chamber; the latter should not be confused with the sci-fi horror game the white chamber). There are other semi-popular franchises that use the concept within a larger framework, as with some of the Saw sequels (Zero Escape, Danganronpa). This, in turn, probably has a less direct relationship to films and TV episodes that focus on a single room to save budget or create psychological tension (as with the original Saw), without escape necessarily being a major theme.