/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>14108662
Don't

>>14108662
it's 2019

>>14108675
This

It'll smell

>>14108662
> imagine the smell

>>14108675
this. its not 2005 anymore brah

>>14108698
>>14108705
Read the op again.
Convince me NOT to open up a gaming cafe

>>14108662
Hi.
I own one.
Been open since 2004.
Near New Orleans, LA

www.dibbz.net

Still going strong.

What if I have other non pc games.
Like hosting tourneys for smash, uhhh rocket league... uh... halo?
Shit what do people want to play?
I want to offer something they can’t get at home like couch co op.
Surely people WANT to socialize, right?

What if I offer fortnite V bucks to get kids to do tasks.like dishes and cut down on employee hours

People who are into videogames enough to consider attending a gaming cafe already have their own rigs at home that will be better than whatever you will have to offer at the cafe. There goes your core audience. Your next hope is that you can entice normies to come in, and PC gaming isn't big in normie culture. If you wanted ROI in the west on an idea like this, you'd open up a hookah/drink bar with multiple videogame systems offered for free with membership. Then have shit like Madden or COD tournaments that offer prize money to the winners. If you really want to stick with the PC gaming cafe idea specifically though, you need to pack up and move to South Korea or some shit.

>>14108717
Are you previously experienced in running a shop?
Would this be a bad first project?
I know how to build pcs, and how to mount tvs.
Not sure about everything else.

>>14108744
Yeah I mentioned above that pc isn’t a good insentive.
The membership system sounds like a good idea.
What if I aim toward the youth market and set up in a residential district?
Have it be the fortnite hang out spot after school or during summer break. Offer dance lessons, which of course I’ll hire others to do not me.
Or is all that just asking for trouble?

>>14108662
been going to a pinball bar lately.
hell of fun.
do that.

>>14108783
How’s maintaining those things?
Lots of moving parts.

>>14108748
To be honest, I truly believe I'm still around is simply because of when it started (2004).
85% of the income is from customers who have been coming since near the start.

It has been hard to attract new young people.

A lot of "gamers" have become console casuals who play at home.

You need knowledge of LAN setup
-static ips
-network imaging
-copying games over network (updates too)
-smartlaunch, gizmopowered.com

You can try, but focus on the experience.
Like you said, the money is in offering "can't get this at home" type things.

>>14108662
If you live a significant chink population they will turn your cafe into a trap house

>>14108662
open up a darts bar

>>14108662
unless you make it a Fortnite Cafe literally near a school good luck getting audience

>>14108662
Are you the same Anon that asked this before?

>>14108829
>Trap house
The good kind of trap or bad?
I do have a good asian population in my vicinity.
Portland, or

>>14108845
No, first time in /biz/ since 2014 when bitcoin was a meme pipedream(god why didn’t I invest)

>>14108840
Hey if it prints money why not.
It just seems like it’d be hard to manage and keep the youth safe.

>>14108662
This used to be a good idea before the age of smartphones.
Now people don't need to go to leave home to play Moba's, first person shooters, or surf the net.

They can just play mobile legends at home, all on their smartphone.

Or play pubg at home.

>>14108780
You're literally just speculating. Are you aware of any demand for a fortnite meetup spot? Do you see a lot of zoomers frothing at the mouth for a club to go and sit on a computer? I definitely don't. I also observed that fortnite is falling out of popularity so you're already out of touch in that respect too.

>>14108879
Yeah but isn’t it all about location?
If I can get one by a school wouldn’t that bring in a few kids who would rather be there than at home?
What if I call it some shit like “THE GAMER DEN” and go full current ironic meme on the marketing like including epic gamer fuel
maybe offer streaming classes
Every kid wants to be a streamer.

Just do the barcade thing. 21+ so you don't have to deal with annoying zoomers. Buy some vintage arcade games (or build them yourself and load em up with MAME). Hire some hot chicks to sell booze to the autistic gamers. Maybe sell some food too. Fried chicken strips would probably be popular.

>>14108717
>www.dibbz.net
Haha im comin thru N.O. in late August im gonna come thru and sperg out at your business bro

>>14108946
lol
Do it
Also, buy NKN ;]

>>14108930
I’m 24.
I jive more with zoomers than boomers.
I hate boomers who think they lived in the greatest gen of gaming
The only arcade games I’m interested in are the outrun and super hang on ride cabinets.

I'd rather stay alone at home in my smelly undies thanks

>>14108964
I know, I’ve stopped looking at you guys.

>>14108783
Just talking about this. I think the retro angle is better.

I own a Cyber Café in Brazil and things are pretty mehh, but it's much better than wageslaving for the same amount of money

I tell you to try, go ahead and DO EET!

I think its cool in theory but 99.999% chance of being a massive failure.

I'd like to meet up at one to play vintage games like BF1942 and shit as a LAN party and sip on some BAWLS energy drink with other 30 year olds but I have literally no friends anymore and I think most people it would appeal to also have no friends so it's kind of like a catch 22.

Thats about all OP, peace out.

>>14108985
What hurdles can you warn me about other than prohibiting eating at a computer.

in greece netcafes are really popylar because people cant really afford an expencive rig, maybe if you do it, do it in a poor area

>>14108961
You'll hate dealing with kids. When I said annoying zoomers, I was talking about the 10 year olds who play fortnite. Those types are unbearable. They like the way most retro games look, but they hate playing them because there's actual goals. They don't want that. They want shit like Minecraft or Goat Simulator where there's no real goals (so they can't lose).

>>14108997
Thanks for convincing me further that gen xers arent the market.

>>14108926
Again you're literally just guessing. Successful businesses look for a demand and fill it. They don't just sit there and guess if there's a demand or not. You need to do your research. What you're doing is speculating, not investing and typically you don't speculate on brick and mortar businesses unless you already have a shit ton of capital to toss around. I assume you are planning on getting a business loan or something which is literally the dumbest move you can make in speculation. Maybe it will work, it probably won't though and also a lot of schools around here (not sure where you are) aren't in areas that are typically zoned for commercial anyways. Most schools in the USA from my experience are found in residential areas next to typical neighborhoods. The meme idea and the fact that you're banking on fucking fortnite still being a thing by the time you finally get your shit together and find rental space is laughable enough, let alone theming your business out of flavor of the month memes to appeal to kids who aren't even in your age demographic and you are absolutely going to be out of touch with to some degree unless you literally hang out at an elementary school all day. I'm thinking you'll just look like the equivalent of a boomer trying to relate to the kids by talking about pokemanz go

>>14109010
OP would literally have to weld everything to the floor otherwise all the basketball-Americans would clean that place out in a day

OP I strongly suggest you do your research on how much it’ll cost for a gaming license to be able to host all the games on Steam etc.

>>14109004
The first one is that people WILL eat and dirty it all.
Don't let kids use the computer to pay later, 95% of them won't pay and you'll lose a customer.
Always keep track of your inventory and income/expenses (I sometimes do that half asses and I regret because at the end of the month I have to do that at once, so it takes a long time).
Use MoneyLover app to keep track of your income/expenses and Monefy for your personal life.
Buy headsets with removable p2p cables or you'll have to buy new headsets every month.
Never EVER use a glass front door that stays closed, people won't even think about opening the door and enter in your store. 2nd floor store is also a no-go.

>>14109019
AGHHHHHHH FUCK YOURE RIGHT

But from my years in the gaming community, the current trend of gamers today is that they are trending more toward games with a SOCIAL ASPECT

We crave interaction with other humans.
That’s a fact. The most popular games are social.

>>14108861
What is the start up cost v how much capital you have?

The 'sexy'/'fun' businesses don't pay as well as non 'sexy'/'fun' businesses.

This is one of these businesses, its never going to make you rich! I could be fun for a while though

>>14109004
I used to own a cyber cafe.
Instead of prohibiting eating at a computer, I sold cup noodles (that instant ramen in a cup where you just add hot water), all types of chips, cookies, crackers, sodas in cans and bottled water.

I also allowed customers to make orders using a chatbox in the taskbar, which will message the cashier up front, and it'll be delivered to them while they play, all prepared (i.e. cup noodles with hot water already added, and a complimentary plastic fork with it) without them having to get up.

And prohibited outside food.

Instead of going out for a snack after a long game, they would instead stay for MANY hours, playing game after game while snacking.

Soon I added a small cafe (where they could order lattes and frappes). Some still went out to eat "real food", so I added frozen microwaveables.

More than half of my income came from the food sales. And even just adding that increased the length each customer would stay by like a factor of 5.

That said, the advent of smartphones and online gaming on home consoles still killed me.

The only other cyber cafes I know that survived were located near schools.

>>14109060
I’ve got around 10,000 in savings.
I don’t know about cost.
PCs would probably bring me down to 5000

>>14109058
Yeah which they can play literally fucking anywhere. They don't need to pay to go to a fucking cafe like a South Korean when they can literally sit in class and play battle Royale games on their mobile phones

>>14108662
there used to be a cyber hub in my city that was ran by an older asian couple that was basically a second home to me and a lot of friends. they started off with probably 20 computers, then expanded and bought 20 new pcs and used those as premiums. we went between the ages of 13 and 18 very consistently. don't get me wrong, partied way to hard for that age back then, but we would also take half of the location every week playing cs:source and BF2...
fuck I miss that shit...

>>14109070
Where are you from?
PC's will be cheaper if you buy used parts, that's how I did (I opened my store with $1300) (financed by a guy from /biz/ cuz I didn't have a dime at the time).

I am in the dentist now, when I get home I'll post some pics.

>>14109068
Wow these are amazing insider tips.
The mind of a gamer is quite simple.
I guess the right type of food is the secret.
Thank you.

open a retro arcade with pizza and a good selection of beer where people intend to spend an evening
most will spend their time on board games with friends and their money on alcohol

check out tonton club in Amsterdam

>>14109074
Yeah but a place to make friends/hang out with friends who enjoy the same type of game is what gamers really want.
Like>>14109086 put it. The experience makes it all the better.

Either way gaming is bigger than ever and growing.
It’s a big capital to invest in and the experience of it is what really entices me.

>>14108675

So what, this obviously can work if you put it in a 24-hour style big city
You can also make it like those "pod" hotels

op should just rip off this concept -

https://youtu.be/MtdupS0gRt0

>>14109070
10k...How long of a lease are you going to have to sign? You know that you will have to accept personal responsibility of the commercial lease right? how much deposit/monthly rent do you expect?

10k will be gone before you know it! I would look at starting some sideline bizs before you put your 10k in something that is going to pay min wage or less! Think of all the hours your going to have to do!

dont you guys have phones???

>>14108662
You'll go to prison when your customers use your internet connection to get prostitutes and download bad things you absolutely do not want to have on computers you own.

>>14109130
I’ve thought about the offering a place to sleep method, but Americans are fucking slobs.
The less maintenance the better.
And there’s probably permits to allowing people to sleep in an establishment.

>>14109159
aaaahhhhhhh
What about constant monitoring.
What about console only.
Doesn’t ever business with pub wi-fi have to worty about this?

>>14108926
>maybe offer streaming classes
Jesus, don't.
forget the business idea. just buy 10k link and be done with it

>>14109159
No you won't, especially if you keep records of who used the computer, and when.

>>14109136
Yeah, none of this has been researched.
This is all just something that’s been brewing in my mind diring my wage slave shift.

Even if I fail I’d still like to try.

>>14108662
I used to make deliveries to one of these places. Until >>14109159 happened. My god, the stench. The few females there were just as nasty as the dudes, and the place was always packed. Neets used mommy's money to order pizza, but not to tip. You'd essentially be paying their rent for them, because a lot of them will stay until you kick them out. This one was never closed, so I imagine some never left.

>>14108662
you will have fedoras jerking off in the booths

>>14109193
But OP wouldn't.

>>14109206
Oh yikes...
Well I don’t want to focus on the pc crowd anymore whatsoever then.

>>14109170

I don't think those have actual beds they are just like cubicles with a futon pad and a pillow.

You could probably get around the laws just put a time limit for certain hours or something like that.

>>14109181
>console only

What, SNES? Modern consoles have harddrives and internet, fren.

>>14109210
Fuck booths.
No privacy in my domain.

>>14109227
But it’s literal torture to use console web browsers other than wii u’s

>>14108744
Tables for Warhammer and MTG.

I’m still not convinced not to do it, other than avoiding pc gamer appeal.
I still feel like it would be a meaningful experience to have a place where people can make friends playing couch co op where I sell over priced food and drinks.

>>14109237
Life finds a way.

I’ll check back in the thread later today to see if I can be convinced that the other crowd(console) is a bad market.

>>14109277
Parental controls.

How about rig maintenance?

>>14109096
I wouldn't market it to zoomer/fortnite generation, simply because you personally have absolute no attachment to that demographic. You remember reading about these CEO's making absolute shit decisions and then alienating their customer group ? This will be you. Also do you really want to spend all day catering to some fortnite kids ? When you try to built your own business it's absolutely essential that you enjoy what you are doing otherwise you will want to kys two months in.
I would try to go after adults who want to spend an enjoyable evening after work. Make it more of a bar type setting combined with computers being available. I myself would like to do LANs again with my old friends. But not everyone still has a rig, then we would need enough space and go through the hassle of setting it up. Way easier to just use a business like yours.
By using the bar type setting you could maybe also filter the "disgusting neet" type of people that will undoubtedly show up.

>>14109256
The GameStop near me has magic the gathering nights on Friday & Saturday. Those faggots seem cleaner than the gamer neets. Plus the spend a lot on snacks. Could make money off of them.

>>14108717
damn its still the first website design right? :]

>>14109306
Blood from 1997 was recently rereleased with multiplayer support. I'd play the shit outta that in a lan party setup.

>>14109323
Yes.
lol

>>14109011
That's not why Minecraft is fun, bro. Legos have been around for a long time and it's the same concept. "Getting a high score" on the "final level" is way more gay than building cool forts and being creative. Minecraft is literally just building forts which is something boys almost instinctively do.

That being said, barcades are a good time.

>>14108662
Everyone middle class these days has the money to own a gaming a PC so you will just end with nasty and poor people.
All internet café have closed since at least 5 years here.

If I had a place like that I would open a bar with ttg and board games, if there is a campus around just go there and distribute tickets for a free drink to get people there.

>>14108662
Overheads and initial outlay can be large

>>14109393
This. Asia is little different but here in states of cafe has turned into gang activity/drug deal place. Lot of popular ones places closed due to shooting or bad things happening there

>>14109363
Maybe that's the problem with the younger generation, they don't even build shit. They just play in prebuilt worlds. Hell, most I've ever seen my 10 yr old nephew do is build a small basic cabin before getting bored. But he also spends more time watching YouTubers play Minecraft than he does playing it himself.

>>14108662
With stadia you'll be able to play any game on your fucking tablet or phone. Nobody cares about gaming cafes anymore.

VR might be a market because most won't have it at home. The problem is how to keep it hygienic. Ain't nobody willing to use it after some greasy fuck.

>>14109458
Afaik Lego was less popular than superhero figures before the internet. So that didn't really change.

>>14109539
Maybe in the states, here in germany lego was huge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtdupS0gRt0
Good idea but open it in Japan :D

>>14108662
at least make it a pc bang where everyone has their own little room. if you're in the bay area, for example, you'll be rich in no time.

>nerd rage
>start pounding fists on keyboard and such
>vibrations move the pc overhead ever so slightly
>eventually make it edge
>fall on gamers head
>kills him
>get sued for your entire net worth

>>14108662
Imagine /v/ but irl and even younger.

>>14108793
An absolute fucking nightmare. Put it in the "floats, flies, or fucks" category. Not only a lot of moving parts, but moving parts getting slammed by little metal balls continuously.

>>14108852
traphouse means drug house

>>14110191
>/v/
>going outside
>playing video games

Nah.

>>14109068


>I also allowed customers to make orders using a chatbox in the taskbar, which will message the cashier up front, and it'll be delivered to them while they play, all prepared (i.e. cup noodles with hot water already added, and a complimentary plastic fork with it) without them having to get up.


This guy niche's

>>14108662

I hope you're okay with losing money.

>>14108662
Who in the fuck goes to a gaming cafe nowadays? I think it's a better idea to build some sort of gaming hotel where people can rent MICRO-"apartments"(small sleeping areas), where they have their own computer and bed. But there's a public bathroom and public kitchen to make it cheaper for you.
I think that would blow up in today's neet world.

I sponsor tournaments at my friends gaming lounge, he makes decent money. He does get a lot of the younger NEETs complaining about venue fees, but it gets packed. He also has it an 18 and up rule because he got tired of parents dropping off their kids and using it as a daycare.

I want to open one up.

I was thinking of opening up a VR cafe. Went to one with work and even the normies that didnt want to go loved it

>>14108733
>>14108662
How about a gaming cafe for single player games?

I provide a closed quiet setup/room with a high end beast gaming machine and different headphones/input devices/chairs/beany bags and all new games.

So people can enjoy the latest games with maxed out graphics and mods in the best way possible.

>>14108733
Smash ultimate needs co uch co op cause the online is shit but it's fantastic in coop

>>14108662
People have computers in their homes

>>14108717
Holy shit. I used to go there often around around 2006 - 2008.

Lots of good memories there.

Cool to see a fellow Nola fag - Metairie - on /biz/

How’s your cafe holding up? I have a friend in BR thinking about taking a shot at opening one. You got any advice you can share that I can forward to him?

>>14110874
>gaming apartments
Thats actually a really good idea if marketed correctly. It would require a shitton of capital to start, though.

>>14111306
...the more I think about it, the more I like it. You could have a big ass supercluster set up at the base of the apartment and then run display and I/O wires to each room. People who live there need only worry about picking their own monitors/display and bringing their own controllers. Everyone gets a slice of time on the cluster in their own VM instance. They never need to worry about updating their machines because cluster maintainence is handled in rent cosrs. Access to the newest games, movies, etc. can also be provided to users as part of their rent, and/or they could download games in virtual marketplaces onto their share of the cluster. I/O in each room could also allow users to upload their own disc games to the cluster so they could play in their VM.It'd be like OnLive or Stadia, but actually able to work without lag instead of being a meme.
Work in some gambling/tournaments as the cherry on top and its perfect.

>>14108717
>this 00s vibe
Good for you Kevin (or Mike).

>>14108662
do it only in countries where electricity is expensive. south korea pc cafes are huge because of that.

>>14108744
Not true. Poorfags love games too

>>14109121
Gamers want girlfriends. OP do normie popular games every night except Saturday night retro with N64 and super Nintendo tourneys. Only hire young attractive women and a bouncer. Serve beer. Give options for monthly memberships like gyms. Free fountain drinks for members. Play only video game soundtracks over the speakers

>>14108852
Internet cafes in chink areas are known for drugs and gambling dens.

>>14108816
Where can I gain knowledge on LAN setups?

>>14112270
At your local library.

>>14108717

One hour 5 Dollar

>>14111117
Focus on the experience.
Where are you now?


>>14111819
Hi. :]

>>14112192
this is golden advice

>>14111306
makes me think of taking it further and starting a gaming community
buy a few acres of rural land for a few thousand, clear it out, lay down a few small homes, go offgrid and get enough solar panels for each house to be self-sufficient
setup a small grocery store where you bring in a truckload of food every week
lay some fibre internet
have plots of land setup where people could build their own home or you could sell a small home for 100k-200k a pop

people could join the community and retire there and their only costs would be the initial home cost, then the ongoing food/internet/hardware upgrades/new games/car.
assuming 1k a month for ongoing costs, that's 300k needed to live off 4%, then 100-200k for a small house and that's a fairly inexpensive retirement plan.