Gaming Lounge?

You do realize arcades are completely dead except for Japan, Korean (and they are more internet cafe "baangs" than actual arcades), and parts of china? Not one of your reasons actually change why arcades died and why they'll go to yours.

You do realize arcades are completely dead except for Japan, Korean (and they are more internet cafe "baangs" than actual arcades), and parts of china? Not one of your reasons actually change why arcades died and why they'll go to yours.

XaosII

Home consoles didn't kill arcades. That wouldn't explain why Japan, Korea, and China arcades are still popular. Its an issue of culture not of technological displacement (home consoles > arcades) or even economics (its cheaper at arcades vs buying the latest games).

Korea is a very high-tech country. The youth has embraced technology at a scale like no other. Internet cafe's are where young people hang out. Its the afterschool activity to do - hang with your friends at a local internet cafe. In the US, none of the "cool kids" would ever be seen at one. Many people in Korea go to them, not even to play, but just to be with their friends. Its even very common for couples to go together and not necessarily play the same games coop or competitively.

Japan's arcades never died out because of dense populations and lack of livng space. In places like Tokyo, a typical family of two parents and a child live in a space not much bigger than a typical US living room. There is simply no space for a basement recreational room that can be found in alot of american houses. The need for younger people to not feel crowded and to get a bit of personal space can come from arcades. You are much more likely to meet and hang out with friends in an arcade instead of inviting them to your cramped apartment house.

In 2000, China made it illegal to sell consoles to "prevent youths from wasting their time." You can still find and buy them, but they are fairly rare. There are several made-for-china electronic gaming devices but they are all of extremely poor quality. Its also very, very expensive to own the typical electronic devices found in most US homes like large TV's, stero system, etc. Most have little option than to use arcades or internet cafes to fulfill their gaming needs. Even so, The typical chinese market is rather different with MMO's making the bulk of games since games are almost always billed as a service than a product (mostly to prevent rampant piracy in China). World of Warcraft is something like 6 US cents an hour to play in China.

But im rambling; Basically, the problem is that the US culture, as a whole, does not lend itself well to arcades. If you want a succesful arcade, you're going to have to fight a massive uphill battle to change US culture and reception of arcades. And even then, with gaming so cheap, its gonna hard even after you do so. You *might* be able to by having that "no-one under 21" thing and making arcades as a more adult/mature oriented "heres something to do thats different than just going to a bar" kind of thing....but thats gonna be a tough sell.

Gaming, taken the level of the average person on this forum, is about as expensive as any other hobby. For all the people whining and complaining about $60 games and DLC, its really not that expensive. Safety equipment for Football run around $400, helmets at $100, good cleats at $80. This is stuff, when taken to roughly the same level as the gamer here, will probably need to be replaced every year from wear, tear, and sweat. An artist? Not a huge upfront cost, but good quality art supplies are pretty expensive... You'll pay a fortune every year in consumbles if you draw every day, much like we play nearly ever day. Music? A starting guitar will run you cheap, but you'll eventually want that $800 one. And a nice amp to follow. And a few peddles. And more good strings to replace the ones you keep breaking. And a different guitar.

I do archery as a second hobby, and it was $600 for an adult starter's bow. I have to replace strings, targets, and arrows all the time. Hobbies, in general, are expensive. And im sure you'll find people at forums dedicated to their own hobby complaining how its so expensive!

This might seem tangential, but it'll make sense: Think of an MMO with good graphics? maybe Tera. Now think of an non-MMO with better graphics? A bunch. Well, that was easy. OK, think of an MMO with a good story? ehm... SWTOR. Now think of an non-mmo with a better story? A million. That was easy too. Think of an MMO with good combat? lets just say Guild Wars 2. Non-MMO with better combat? A ton.

So why do these MMO's keep getting played? Because their friends play it. Why do so many MMO's keep failing even when they keep adding new thing? Because their friends don't play it.

I dont smoke, but i go to hookah lounges a few times a year. You will never, ever see me at a hookah lounge by myself. I go, and partake in a bit of hookah because im there with my friends.

Its also part of the same reason why arcades still work in Korea and Japan. Its how you'll likely get a successful arcade. Now that begs the question - How do you get people to come with their friends? Unfortunately, i've not a clue. But that's how you'll get *me* to come.

Sounds like a solid idea that I would be more then happy to go to and support on the regular. I'd also add that you should carry sports programming and PPV's with a cover charge. Free Wifi is a must and if you can ditch the snacks for stuff like carrots and greek yogurt.

Well Im 32 now and have been a gamer my whole life. I hang out in bars alot and love when bars and videogames cross paths. Im in San Diego, CA and they have a place called Dave and Busters (It has locations in major cities throughout the US) and there is competitor up in LA called Gameworks or something like that. The idea behind them is a arcade for adults with alcoholic beverages. They use traditional arcade machines, mostly the highend expensive ones, and dont have any TVs hooked up to consoles. The prices are very expensive (except they have a happy hour that makes the games and drinks reasonable). Beside those they have a few places like you want to open up. They are usually small and are sometimes attached to a videogame store. They have TV's hooked up to consoles and really dont offer any extra ammenities.

So I guess I want a cross between those. You could have all the TV's and consoles, maybe a few nostalgic arcade machines, a pool table/ping pong table, heck maybe even a card table people could sit around and play poker on. Of course I would want alcohol, which I know complicates things with trying to have both under 21ers and over 21ers. But if you could work out the details and check ideas and/or have a security gaurd it would interest me. Also, in SoCal you could have a "green room" for the medicinal patients, as I dont play games without taking my medicine, which is perfectly legal in SoCal. I know you probably wouldnt do this, but I wouldnt have to go out to my car all the time. :P

Anyways those are just my thoughts. It might be a hard balance with alcohol, but its what I would be interested in. I just want to come to a place that is cool and fun to hang out in and not a full geek convention.

heck maybe even a card table people could sit around and play poker on. LJChronx

[QUOTE="LJChronx"]heck maybe even a card table people could sit around and play poker on. El_Zo1212o

Well you can have poker tournaments in most states if the buyin goes to the business and the winner gets paid with a gift certificate to that business.

[QUOTE="El_Zo1212o"][QUOTE="LJChronx"]heck maybe even a card table people could sit around and play poker on. LJChronx

Well you can have poker tournaments in most states if the buyin goes to the business and the winner gets paid with a gift certificate to that business.

Why does anyone go anywhere if they have the accessibility to it from the comfort of their homes?Da_Shroom_King

Take a look at Starbucks, they have truely perfected the art of making a cafe where you just want to be. Apple does the same thing with their stores and Waterstones have started doing it too. To compete with the internet the location itself and the experiance of being there has to be part of the attraction.

They have an arcade at my uni attached to the SU bar, i know there's one in San Diego and i think Yahzee co-owns a similar place in Melbourne.

The trick is to make the games a side show not the main attraction otherwise you get a convention sausage fest with people arguing over which version of CoD is better. You need to make the place a nice place to hangout with a few games as a bonus however I'ld concentrate on old machines or retro titles so you don't directly compete with the home market; this ensures games are short and easy for newbies to jump in on, allows you to play the nostalgia card and gives you much better inspiration when doing the interior design.

Thank you for the responses everybody! And yes El_Zo1212o I am taking notes, but I don't think I could afford that simulator as an attraction, at least not until my money making machine is complete. Some very interesting ideas so far, and I'll be glad to comment on them when I get home and plug my laptop into a socket. Before I go though, I've used the lovely search bar here in the forums and found this thread: http://www.gamespot.com/forums/topic/27464759/gaming-cafe--gaming-lounge-would-one-actually-go I'm wondering now if anyone has any information on what happened to Zavvi, Omega Games, RapidFire or any of the other companies mentioned in the thread. I've been trying to google them but I'm not getting anything specific on why they closed down or even how their business was ran. According to the other forumers in the thread, they were quite popular but still went out of business. I'm currently trying to get some more accurate estimates on just how much it would cost to run this lounge and how much profit can actually be made, thanks for your continued feedback guys, I really appreciate it. I'm also leaning towards converting this into a bar and gaming lounge, it seems more viable to me but we'll see after I run a few numbers.Da_Shroom_King

Well profit is ultimately the key. The problem with the gaming lounge is that you selling gaming time in and of itself is not profitable. I believe one poster above said that he would not pay more than $3 an hour to play games. Well, you are not going to make sh*t on that. People have to purchase other things from you to make money (such as software, food, beverages, membership fees, or some other creative service). Obviously the most profitable of them will be alcoholic beverages. But that may not fit the demographic you are going for. If you can make it geared towards a demographic that appreciates games and alcohol then you will probably have a profitable senario, as those two groups have alot of dispensable income. Most are not married and do not have the demands of kids, house payments, ect.

You're not the first one to have thought of this. I have seen quite a few "Gaming Cafe" type places in my time.

Personally, I love the idea of a place to go to get out of the house and spend some solid time getting lost in the world of gaming. The issue comes, however, in trying to turn a profit. The one place I can remember in the most detail was very cool. It had about 15 Xbox 360 setups, 10 Wii Setups, 10-12 PS3 setups, and 10-12 Gaming PC setups. They also served snacks, coffee drinks, and other popular gamer fuel.

If I remember correctly, they charged $5 an hour to use the systems. The drinks were priced just below that of a Starbucks. I believe the business owner believed that he would make the majority of his profit from selling food and drinks (very high profit industry).

Despite constant business, it shut down after only being open for 5-6 months, obviously due to lack of revenue.

I believe that the problem arose when the owner wasn't selling as much food and drink as he expected. $5 an hour even with all of the available systems being used wasn't enough to cover the business overhead. He expected the gamers to spend money on food and drink when in reality, they were far too lost in their game-worlds to get up and get something to drink or eat. This was the downfall.

All in all, I love your idea, but feel that you would need to find a way to secure profit.

I want to bring up this old topic because I'm going to do the same thing in san diego, ca.  Only it's going to be like the mana bar in australia.  i believe in order to make it work you need a place with a lot of foot traffic, hence why i'm aiming for the gaslamp district.  The place also needs to be accessible to the general public and not off putting, ie a "nerd" hangout.  The mana bar got it right by making it a house party atmosphere.  Like if you had friends over at a party and there is a system hooked up with rock band or smash brothers.  Sell drinks, have daily events, and on going tournaments.  Make it look classy. 

I am nearly finished with the business plan and i'm just waiting for my friend to graduate in business management at the end of this year and we are diving in.  A similar place just opening up in Kansas called Headshots this month.  It will be interesting to see how it goes.