Is starting a Gaming oriented Cyber Cafe a good idea?

[ratul]

OK,guys. First preference to Airtel. What's PITA though?

Pain In The @$$...

 

[lovedonator]

Serious ROFL

 

[Extreme Gamer]

Arcade Fighting games?

Spoiler

PC only has Street Fighter 4 & Street fighter x Tekken.Unless you are talking about some ancient 8 bit 2D fighting games.

Taito Type X/X2 games can be run natively on PC

I would also say X3, but nobody has broken the encryption yet.

 

[TheLetterD]

Try to make that Cafe near some Engineering Hostels(Pvt. Colleges proffered) or something. That always works wonders.



About the concept, Ive seen many such businesses come up in Chandigarh, do amazingly good and then after a year or max 2 years of craze, just fade out. Just like that.

We had 2 Zapaks here, which were totally awesome for that time. 100 Bucks for 3 Hours, basic gaming hardware cheap GPUs small monitors but a damn fast internet. People usually came for DOTA WoW and CS anyways so that didnt matter.
But then both of them shut down even when they both were super successful, INITIALLY. It COULD BE that the profits they were earning thinned down at the end.

Okay now next we had was Oxide(still here), it had 3 PS3s, 2 XBOX360s and a Nintendo Wii. Small place but amazing decor and Furniture. 46 Inch TVs. It was super exciting, but again, only initially. It was hot but then again the craze thinned down.
They charged 180 for 1 person and 240 for 2 per hour, so QUITE expensive.

Then we have Indulgence, a super big place, TOTALLY gaming oriented stuff, Big 3D TVs with Mid Range computers hid under super expensive PC cases(games ran at low/medium), amazing gaming theme decor, maybe 14-15 computers but again super expensive, and this place never kicked off. It had a somewhat okay start but again the craze just went away.

Now we have this place called Octopus Gaming.
Whats great about this place is that its a small showroom on the first floor, nothing fancy, BUT Great PCs(Most have AOC 23 inch monitors and 3 have 27 Inch ones) 4 having HD5450 graphic cards and the others having HD7750, and not sure but atleast an Athlon or Pentium Dual Core in all of them. Internet is super fast too. ANNNNNNDDDDD Only Rs.75 per hour!
Whats best is that on request the guy offers you 9 PM to 4 AM gaming, 1 Big Chips pack, 1 Coke bottle all under 350 Rs per person IF you manage to bring atleast 10 People!
Me and my friends have had about 4 night outs here, the guy is super awesome and nice and often plays a game or two with us.

Now see, Zapak MAY have failed cuz it was a BIG establishment with a BIG investment which didnt give enough profit. (Zapaks were all over India and the bigger one in Chandigarh had around 30 PCs)

Oxide is slow cuz MAYBE the stuff they have is just for Casual gamers (a market which now has iPads and iPhones and Galaxy S3/S4s which can full full their Gaming needs) and it was just too fancy for a gaming place. Also not that cheap so gamers could always BUY a PS3 if they were rich enough to play there OR just go to the local (although illegal ) PS3 VideoGame booth.

Indulgence, too high investment, targeted only super rich people or hardcore gamers, who could always buy the same Hardware at home and play the same games for much cheaper and also, convenience.

But this octopus place is new. Its not really THAT hot but its pretty good. Every time I visit(cuz its cheap) I find a few 'Regulars' over there playing CS or COD4 or WoW with their own Gaming mice and mouse pads . Although I still cant be sure if its really that profitable but from what the store guy (not the owner, just a manager) told me the owner is planning to open 2 such Gaming Cafes around Chandigarh in the Richer single digit Sectors.

I hope all this somehow helped and you can gain a thing or two from here. Best of luck!

 

[theserpent]

Download Steam,and download dota 2 and tf 2

 

[Piyush]

During my college days, esp in 2nd yr, me and my friends used to go to Gr. Noida in groups of 6-8 each weekend just to play games like CoD MW 1, NFS MW and Warcraft.
That guy (the owner of the shop), started with one gaming arcade, with 12 PCs, all were medium performer, no high end stuff. Since the location was close to 4-5 Engg colleges, you can imagine the rush.
That location had 3 market sectors: Alpha, Beta and Gamma. He started hi shop in Gamma and just in a period of 1 year, he set up 2 more shops in the remaining sectors.
These days, he have 12-16 PCs in each shop in which half of them are equipped with tournament-like gears (all high end stuff from CPU to gaming headsets).

So you see, the location of your arcade matters very much. And do take a rough survey on your own, regarding the current scenario of cyber cafes in respect to the students coming for gaming only.
Also, that guy did not have any snacks in his shop, because he chose a location which was just next to a confectionery shop

 

[bareminimumayush]

I have only just created my account and while browsing I came across your post.
I live in Lucknow and have studied in is CMS Degree College,and it is one of the most decent one in Lucknow(Just google it ).Even then very of my classmates few had decent rigs to play games.I think the primary reason was unavailiblity of knowledge of needs to play games.Most bought a rig with a poor or missing graphics card and were unable to play games that came in as old as 2001.
My advice are-

• Buy moderately spec'd Pcs. Even a rig with Intel HD 4000 can decently run a game like COD4,Crysis,Splinter cell:Conviction.If you have decent knowledge of assembling then its better to buy 2nd hand pc's and yourself add a graphics card or other components and/or if you have sufficient budget assemble whole pc yourself.It will be compartively a whole lot cheaper.(but be careful or it can be a serious headache)
• If you live in a typical semi-suburban semi-modern locality like mine then its better and here we do have a great no. of kids who don't have decent rigs.In posh areas kids have better rigs and laptops and the purpose of your business would be defeated.
• keep the rates low initially.it would be a good boost for kids.
• use games downloaded via net as they would be cheaper and completely free(and to dear Respected readers,I would very politely request that I am not interested in a NO_PIRACY debate).I am only suggesting it as an initial precaution.If your cafe performs well its better you use original.
• for backup keep a no of pc's just for browsing like a typical cyber cafe.Also if you have a unlimited net,you could download movies or games via torrent and copy them to pd's at nominal rates.

Really happy that people are taking risks in tech area.Hope that your cafe is always flooded with kids.
Please do inform me of you success as I also aspire to start a tech-business after graduation.

 

[lovedonator]

Try to make that Cafe near some Engineering Hostels(Pvt. Colleges proffered) or something. That always works wonders.



About the concept, Ive seen many such businesses come up in Chandigarh, do amazingly good and then after a year or max 2 years of craze, just fade out. Just like that.

We had 2 Zapaks here, which were totally awesome for that time. 100 Bucks for 3 Hours, basic gaming hardware cheap GPUs small monitors but a damn fast internet. People usually came for DOTA WoW and CS anyways so that didnt matter.
But then both of them shut down even when they both were super successful, INITIALLY. It COULD BE that the profits they were earning thinned down at the end.

Okay now next we had was Oxide(still here), it had 3 PS3s, 2 XBOX360s and a Nintendo Wii. Small place but amazing decor and Furniture. 46 Inch TVs. It was super exciting, but again, only initially. It was hot but then again the craze thinned down.
They charged 180 for 1 person and 240 for 2 per hour, so QUITE expensive.

Then we have Indulgence, a super big place, TOTALLY gaming oriented stuff, Big 3D TVs with Mid Range computers hid under super expensive PC cases(games ran at low/medium), amazing gaming theme decor, maybe 14-15 computers but again super expensive, and this place never kicked off. It had a somewhat okay start but again the craze just went away.

Now we have this place called Octopus Gaming.
Whats great about this place is that its a small showroom on the first floor, nothing fancy, BUT Great PCs(Most have AOC 23 inch monitors and 3 have 27 Inch ones) 4 having HD5450 graphic cards and the others having HD7750, and not sure but atleast an Athlon or Pentium Dual Core in all of them. Internet is super fast too. ANNNNNNDDDDD Only Rs.75 per hour!
Whats best is that on request the guy offers you 9 PM to 4 AM gaming, 1 Big Chips pack, 1 Coke bottle all under 350 Rs per person IF you manage to bring atleast 10 People!
Me and my friends have had about 4 night outs here, the guy is super awesome and nice and often plays a game or two with us.

Now see, Zapak MAY have failed cuz it was a BIG establishment with a BIG investment which didnt give enough profit. (Zapaks were all over India and the bigger one in Chandigarh had around 30 PCs)

Oxide is slow cuz MAYBE the stuff they have is just for Casual gamers (a market which now has iPads and iPhones and Galaxy S3/S4s which can full full their Gaming needs) and it was just too fancy for a gaming place. Also not that cheap so gamers could always BUY a PS3 if they were rich enough to play there OR just go to the local (although illegal ) PS3 VideoGame booth.

Indulgence, too high investment, targeted only super rich people or hardcore gamers, who could always buy the same Hardware at home and play the same games for much cheaper and also, convenience.

But this octopus place is new. Its not really THAT hot but its pretty good. Every time I visit(cuz its cheap) I find a few 'Regulars' over there playing CS or COD4 or WoW with their own Gaming mice and mouse pads . Although I still cant be sure if its really that profitable but from what the store guy (not the owner, just a manager) told me the owner is planning to open 2 such Gaming Cafes around Chandigarh in the Richer single digit Sectors.

I hope all this somehow helped and you can gain a thing or two from here. Best of luck!

Download Steam,and download dota 2 and tf 2

During my college days, esp in 2nd yr, me and my friends used to go to Gr. Noida in groups of 6-8 each weekend just to play games like CoD MW 1, NFS MW and Warcraft.
That guy (the owner of the shop), started with one gaming arcade, with 12 PCs, all were medium performer, no high end stuff. Since the location was close to 4-5 Engg colleges, you can imagine the rush.
That location had 3 market sectors: Alpha, Beta and Gamma. He started hi shop in Gamma and just in a period of 1 year, he set up 2 more shops in the remaining sectors.
These days, he have 12-16 PCs in each shop in which half of them are equipped with tournament-like gears (all high end stuff from CPU to gaming headsets).

So you see, the location of your arcade matters very much. And do take a rough survey on your own, regarding the current scenario of cyber cafes in respect to the students coming for gaming only.
Also, that guy did not have any snacks in his shop, because he chose a location which was just next to a confectionery shop

All the suggestions and experiences duly noted. Thank you guys.

 

[mitraark]

Although it is advisable to research around the neighbouhood before starting up the cafe, gaming parlour usually turns out to be profitable in almost 100% of the cases. If you're situated near a college/school then you'd have hit the jackpot, but to be true even if your cafe is decent enough to host a 5vs5 game you'll attract customers from far places.

You can additionally have internet as well which will see a long queue in front of your cafe for the entire day ( seriously, you'll never have an empty terminal )

 

[lovedonator]

^^ Thank you. It's nice to see that I'm not a looney. Yeah I'm planning to have internet for both online gaming and regular usage.

 

[mikael_schiffer]

Umm, i dont want to be a thread-digger, but i really want to know the current progress of op (lovedonator)
I want to know if he really launched his venture or is still stuck in planning phase.

Gaming parlor/cafe thing is such a jackpot business. Your profits depends on so many uncontrollable variables, even if you are a bad cafe wallah u may be very successful and even if you do everything right you may still flop. I know a cafe wallah who beats /slaps kids when they get excited or shout while gaming, he never allows "credit" and scolds customers(mostly teens) when they bring along friends who dont actually play but just watch other play...... but damn, his cafe is packed from 8AM to 10PM. People line up early morning outside his cafe and every night he has to chase out everyone from his packed cafe . Lucky ******* :0(one day karma will hit him and his PCs are gonna explode for sure)

Hope the OP reads this.

 

[bssunilreddy]

There used to be Gaming cafes in Jamnagar even in 2006 itself. I visited one that is called Gaming Den near the law college in Jamnagar in 2006 and the owner of that cafe said it is very profitable to him since most of the guys play CS and Tomb Raider like games for a charge of Rs.50 per hour.
In Hyderabad Reliance Gaming Zone used to be there in Banjara Hills area near the Punjagutta (present) Mochis Showroom in 2006 and I used to play CS with many buddies 6 years junior to me for a monthly card of Rs.500 for 4 hours daily or Rs.1500 for 6 hours daily. There was no daily or hourly scheme in Reliance Gaming Zone at that time when PC Gaming was in its infancy in India. I too wanted to establish such one in my Home Town but my wife does not like it as she says at minimum a Gaming cafe requires 20lacs and also requires continuous upgrades from time to time. In this aspect I agree and suggest to buy XBOX 360 and PS3 like consoles which are redundant for a very long time and many games titles are available for consoles than a Gaming PC.

Verdict: Consoles are better to maintain and run than a Gaming PC RIGS and even needs less investment which is 1 time investment for at least 5 years.

 

[CommanderShawnzer]

There used to be Gaming cafes in Jamnagar even in 2006 itself. I visited one that is called Gaming Den near the law college in Jamnagar in 2006 and the owner of that cafe said it is very profitable to him since most of the guys play CS and Tomb Raider like games for a charge of Rs.50 per hour.
In Hyderabad Reliance Gaming Zone used to be there in Banjara Hills area near the Punjagutta (present) Mochis Showroom in 2006 and I used to play CS with many buddies 6 years junior to me for a monthly card of Rs.500 for 4 hours daily or Rs.1500 for 6 hours daily. There was no daily or hourly scheme in Reliance Gaming Zone at that time when PC Gaming was in its infancy in India. I too wanted to establish such one in my Home Town but my wife does not like it as she says at minimum a Gaming cafe requires 20lacs and also requires continuous upgrades from time to time. In this aspect I agree and suggest to buy XBOX 360 and PS3 like consoles which are redundant for a very long time and many games titles are available for consoles than a Gaming PC.

Verdict: Consoles are better to maintain and run than a Gaming PC RIGS and even needs less investment which is 1 time investment for at least 5 years.

your wife's logic is crap
No Offence
the only games people play in Cyber Cafe's are
1.CS 1.6
2.CS 1.6
3.CS 1.6
4.FIFA
5.Some old-ass NFS title(usually NFS MW)
all aforementioned games dont require heavy upgrades
Also the people who come to cyber cafe's are like Dogs raised from birth on Pedigree(CS,NFS MW,Some other old game),They have not got the "Taste" of raw meat(All our high quality AAA games).They are poor(or just have stingy parents or both) and casual gamers.they look for any random timepass game,not Bioshock Infinite
Did i mention you get games free on PC?

 

[sandeep410]

Actually gaming cybercafes are deserted now. Its not what it used to be. Its better to have consoles rather than PC bec now a days every1 has a pc but consoles likes XBox and ps3 are rare. Its mostly played by little kids and they do break your remotes every now and then.

 

[theserpent]

your wife's logic is crap
No Offence
the only games people play in Cyber Cafe's are
1.CS 1.6
2.CS 1.6
3.CS 1.6
4.FIFA
5.Some old-ass NFS title(usually NFS MW)
all aforementioned games dont require heavy upgrades
Also the people who come to cyber cafe's are like Dogs raised from birth on Pedigree(CS,NFS MW,Some other old game),They have not got the "Taste" of raw meat(All our high quality AAA games).They are poor(or just have stingy parents or both) and casual gamers.they look for any random timepass game,not Bioshock Infinite
Did i mention you get games free on PC?

This.Cybers have high end hardware and people JUST PLAY CS 1.6 wtf

 

[Nerevarine]

This.Cybers have high end hardware and people JUST PLAY CS 1.6 wtf

OMG and I thought I was the only one who thought this

 

[Sarath]

I used Zapak for almost a year and the only two games played there were CS and Dota. They usually also have two high end PCs to play WoW etc.

Gaming parlor/cafe thing is such a jackpot business. Your profits depends on so many uncontrollable variables, even if you are a bad cafe wallah u may be very successful and even if you do everything right you may still flop. I know a cafe wallah who beats /slaps kids when they get excited or shout while gaming, he never allows "credit" and scolds customers(mostly teens) when they bring along friends who dont actually play but just watch other play...... but damn, his cafe is packed from 8AM to 10PM. People line up early morning outside his cafe and every night he has to chase out everyone from his packed cafe . Lucky ******* :0(one day karma will hit him and his PCs are gonna explode for sure)

Which place is this?

 

[mikael_schiffer]

Its in Vijaynagar, South Delhi. Forgot the cafe's name. CyberManiancs i think. I am sure they have become really big now. I have seen them grow since i was in that locality for 4 yrs.(2008 to 2011)

 

[satinder]

At some places old machines still work like in small house colonies.
Better rigs are in malls also with bigger screens and better hardwares that one can't afford at home.
As seen in various places of Delhi.
Gaming rigs or pro machines is still luxury for many thus business is good depending on locality.
Business is just hit n run case.
If it hits, carry on.
If not change locality or type of machines.
This is only mantra here.

 

[Nerevarine]

Its in Vijaynagar, South Delhi. Forgot the cafe's name. CyberManiancs i think. I am sure they have become really big now. I have seen them grow since i was in that locality for 4 yrs.(2008 to 2011)

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