Cyber-Cafe

george langham · 10 Dec 2009 at 13:37

Hi guys, me and a friend are planning on making a Gaming Cyber-Cafe after we leave college.
We want to prepare for it before we get it going by planning all the things which we should buy and researching other cybercafes.
We are already aware of the Steam Cybercafe game bundle + sponsorship bundle and are considering using it.
We need some advice on systems and game server management technology and the actual server computer itself.
It would also be nice to know if anybody knows of any government grants for technology and community based industries.

The final thing we'd like to know is if they think it'd be possible to strike a deal with overclockers uk so that we can bulk buy gaming computers for use in the cybercafe.

Cheers for any help you can give.
George and Josh.

george langham · 10 Dec 2009 at 13:43

ejr22 · 10 Dec 2009 at 13:51

A bump after 6 minutes? Spamming much?

Coldzero · 10 Dec 2009 at 13:53

Are you getting a loan to finance your capital?

george langham · 14 Dec 2009 at 18:36

We are planning on getting a loan, yes.
Along with a savings account.

The bump was accidental, I typed it in but intended to delete the post a useful answer would be nice erj instead of just pointing out the obvious.

Are you guys aware of any available grants in the UK?
we are already aware of the community help grant (which we could technically fit in to)

And the other thing me and Josh are slightly fighting over is the target audience, we know we want gamers.
But we aren't sure if the target audience is Commuter looking for a short gamer session (quick shooters via LAN and Internet, more business comes in, but not stay as long) or University students having days off from University (longer time inside, but also higher chance of being empty some of the time when people are in university. And near drought during University holidays)

Based on a web search (on google maps) the area with the least Cyber-cafes in the UK is Cheshire, although not sure if this is due to lack of people trying the idea out or for some other reason yet.

We were planning on starting in Chester or Crewe
(I prefer Chester but Crewe is much cheaper.)

We could do a few homebrew games, and some PC repair and on the phone help, as well as hiring out the PC's to College and Uni for very basic PC tutoring (people that have no clue how turn on PC, never mind use it)

Gackt · 14 Dec 2009 at 18:56

As far as making a deal with OcUK, you'd probably get a better response if you call them. Maybe getting OcUK to sponsor, or put up OcUK advertisements in the cafe? "Powered by Overclockers.co.uk", for example.

Felix Da Housecat · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:02

Sounds like a good venture and I wish you all the best with it.

Not sure about the hardwear side but I'm sure OcUK would be able to give some advice along with hardware if you ask them directly.

Glaucus · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:05

have you researched it? very few make any profit and most close within a few months. The price of the systems, Software and games usually outweighs anything people will pay.

george langham · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:20

Gackt said:
As far as making a deal with OcUK, you'd probably get a better response if you call them. Maybe getting OcUK to sponsor, or put up OcUK advertisements in the cafe? "Powered by Overclockers.co.uk", for example.

OCUK said:
Dear George and Josh,

Thank you for your webnote.
We may be able to look into possibilities open to us on bulk purchases. When you know a little more specifically what you want and are getting ready to place your order, please give our friendly sales team a phone call on 0871 910 910 1 and they can look into this further for you.

Regards,

Simon Bagshaw

george langham · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:23

AcidHell2 said:
have you researched it? very few make any profit and most close within a few months. The price of the systems, Software and games usually outweighs anything people will pay.

We are going to visit the ones which are still running and see how they cope, also the ones which run Using the The Steam Powered Cyber Cafe Program have a bit better support and last a lot longer, in fact some indie games in the Steam store are supplied by such cyber cafes.

oops accidental double post again. Not sure how delete posts on this forum, most forums have a clearly labeled delete post button.

Souljacker · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:26

Chuck in a TV with an xbox or 2 with a few games too, people are always up for a quick blast of band hero etc.

Glaucus · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:26

Thing is who our your customers. Nearly everyone has broadband at home, more than likely faster than you will be able to offer, due to number of computers connected. Top games ymeans you need a good spec computer which will need updating. People aren't going to spend much money to use an internet cafe. Those who like gaming will have there own computer or console.
The idea is about 15 years to late, unless you can offer something new.

george langham · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:33

george langham said:
But we aren't sure if the target audience is Commuter looking for a short gamer session (quick shooters via LAN and Internet, more business comes in, but not stay as long)
or University students having days off from University (longer time inside, but also higher chance of being empty some of the time when people are in university. And near drought during University holidays)

Based on a web search (on google maps) the area with the least Cyber-cafes in the UK is Cheshire, although not sure if this is due to lack of people trying the idea out or for some other reason yet.

Many University students are too much in debt to afford PC's until leave University or are too worried about the poor campus security to dare fetch something as expensive as a computer into a dorm, But may have enough spare to use a Cyber Cafe for a while.

Commuters also often have time between trains to waste, and may want to spend it on games.

george langham said:
We could do some PC repair and on the phone help, as well as hiring out the PC's to College and Uni for very basic PC tutoring (people that have no clue how turn on PC, never mind use it) in moments of cash flow shortage

Glaucus · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:35

commuters wanting to play a quick game, I find that unlikely and students generally have computers and internet certainly 90+%.

Not trying to rain on your idea, but this has been tried many times and failed for a good reason. internet is cheap these days and everyone has some sort of computer.

Even computer repair shops go under within a few months.

iNPUt · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:37

Agree with Acid you are too late to go into something like this, unless you can guarantee
you can get enough gamers in to make it worth your while (you will need a lot of gamers)
I read this BBC news article a while back and may be of use to you.

If you really want to go for the gamers, you will need a good quality dedicated line which
do not come cheap, expensive hardware, expensive games lots going out not sure how
much you will get going in. Also you gonna have to have an ace business plan to get
that loan off the bank.

K.C. Leblanc · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:41

george langham said:
Based on a web search (on google maps) the area with the least Cyber-cafes in the UK is Cheshire, although not sure if this is due to lack of people trying the idea out or for some other reason yet.

Why don't you go and have a look at a few then, see what their cliantel are, see if they've actualy got enough customers to making decent money. Do it mathodicaly, look at the prices look at what everyone is spending. Look at the price of property.

My gut instinct is most 'cyber cafes' will either be normal cafes offering a few machine or use by the customers. Or in a few cases will be based in areas where there is a very high number of tourists who just want to check there emails (and that market will be squeazed since mobile internet is really taking off).

Another thing, have to got any idea about the catering business.

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/ might be worth a look.

tom_e · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:44

george langham said:
Many University students are too much in debt to afford PC's until leave University or are too worried about the poor campus security to dare fetch something as expensive as a computer into a dorm, But may have enough spare to use a Cyber Cafe for a while.

Commuters also often have time between trains to waste, and may want to spend it on games.

As a current student I can tell you that the students who are into games will own at least one of the lastest consoles and a decent pc/laptop. The ones that arnt wouldnt bother paying for it at a cyber cafe they may head round to their mates for a few games and beers

xJcBx · 14 Dec 2009 at 20:01

The local one to me is flooded constantly, they must be making a mint.
All bar a few of dedicated gamers are all 12-16 year olds from the local secondary schools. They have big sponsorship from ATI by the looks of it, they always have new ATI cards and adverts for it everywhere.
In the evenings they usually have 10-15 WoW nerds that all sit around buying + drinking beer, in their own clan.

Parties are big buisness there, and they offer lots of deals like membership, where lots of people get ripped off, like you need a £2 member ship per month to play there, at the time once your in there, its like "Yeah, its only £2, put it on the bill", they also do yearly deals ect.

I wish you all the luck, and maybe we could have some OCUK meets there ^^

Souljacker · 14 Dec 2009 at 20:04

george langham said:
Many University students are too much in debt to afford PC's until leave University or are too worried about the poor campus security to dare fetch something as expensive as a computer into a dorm, But may have enough spare to use a Cyber Cafe for a while.

Commuters also often have time between trains to waste, and may want to spend it on games.

Every student I know has a PC or laptop, quite a few of them have pretty decent ones too.

I know when I was in halls I was quite happy leaving my PC unattended!

iNPUt · 14 Dec 2009 at 20:15

george langham said:
Many University students are too much in debt to afford PC's until leave University or are too worried about the poor campus security to dare fetch something as expensive as a computer into a dorm, But may have enough spare to use a Cyber Cafe for a while.

They are poor because if they are into gaming they will buy a pc they worry
about the price afterwards (e.g when student loan / overdraft runs out).

Room insurance is pretty cheap, and if your not on the ground floor you dont
have much to worry about, in my halls no one got robbed the whole year, and
it was in a right dirty area.

This year people got robbed, because they went to fireworks, and the cleaver
theifs broke into 3 houses on the same road. Loud bangs, people out = win!
My plan for next year, maybe not :confused: