STARTING A GAME CENTER / LOUNGE
Starting a video game cafe is not a new or an innovative idea in 2016. But with the time, priorities change. People are bored with same old system games.
There used to be a time when I used to visit a computer center just to play GTA vice city. Now the time has changed. Every home has a smartphone or a PC. And there are mind blowing games releasing every day in the market. But I don’t want to quote that internet cafes are running under loss, especially when I observe the crowd in the cyber cafes of my city.
If you are living in a developing or underdeveloped country, then you are in a very lucky position. There are people who charge 50 rupees(less than a dollar) for 5 minutes of a roller coaster video on VR headsets. But, that’s not what I’m talking about. You can make more money than that with a decent business plan.
Here is how,
– Choose a good place for your business.
– You can do business with just those VR headsets. Buy at least 3 to 4 such sets so that many customers can play simultaneously instead of waiting for their turn. Different VR headsets need different requirements.
– If you are financially strong enough, then you can go one more step further and buy either PlayStation 4 or Xbox consoles with a LED TV screen to use some extremely awesome games.
– Move motion controllers and cameras can definitely attract your customers.
– Most of the gamers love to eat when they are playing. So, selling food items in the counter is not a bad idea.
– There are other products like game DVDs, google cardboard and other gaming gadgets that can be sold so that you can make some extra money.
– The service plan is up to you. You can make your own plan and price for the service you provide. Most of the people let their customers play games for certain minutes of time every day. Others give monthly passes with some restriction.
The gadgets that I have mentioned above may seem bit costly. But once you setup your business, you can earn your investment within 2 years if you are doing it correctly. In countries like the US, cost estimation of this business is 10000$-15000$ provided you have bought at least 6 VR headsets, 3 LED screens, 3 Xbox/Playstation consoles, and systems. The price of the land and electricity not included. The best thing is you can start this business from home itself if you have a bigger space.
If your budget itself is 5000$ or less, then I recommend you to do business with just the VR headsets which run with any smartphones.
There are more than 60,000 people per month who are goggling for a gaming café around them. This is just the online data, and I’m sure that the offline data is at least 10 times more than this. So, video game center business has a potential of being a successful business if you hit the right cords at the right time.
* All you need to know about VR headsets before buying them *