Looking for Advice - Gaming Lounges

fraggerPops

Newbie
Jun 10, 2018
23
1
4
Pakistan
Hi,

I am looking for advice about opening a gaming lounge in the Twin Cities; right now I am only looking at it as a possible future endeavor but I am keeping my options open.

What are the important things required for opening a successful gaming lounge in Pakistan?

Where in the Twin Cities should I look to open up shop (best possible areas) and how big should the shop be?

What kind of internet should I use and how much bandwidth would a usual gaming lounge require?

Where can I get PC parts in bulk (preferably in the Twin Cities)? What type of peripherals should I look for (gaming or otherwise - local or branded)? Where can I get consoles (PS4 and Xbox One) in bulk and also spare controllers (preferably in the Twin Cities)? Where can I buy original games for said consoles? Is there a potential market for VR gaming in Pakistan? How much would a VR headset cost along with the PC and where can I buy them? How many PCs/Consoles should I start with?

How much would I initially need to invest in the venture keeping in mind the above questions and also the rent for a shop and daily and monthly expenses?

Thank you in advance for reading and possibly answering a few questions.
@manigamer (I hope you don't mind me tagging you. Nanow told me that you run a gaming lounge and to mention you in my post) I hope you can help me out.
 

NaNoW

Administrator
ADMIN
Feb 5, 2008
11,350
433
89
Karachi, Pakistan
Hi,

I am looking for advice about opening a gaming lounge in the Twin Cities; right now I am only looking at it as a possible future endeavor but I am keeping my options open.

What are the important things required for opening a successful gaming lounge in Pakistan?

Where in the Twin Cities should I look to open up shop (best possible areas) and how big should the shop be?

What kind of internet should I use and how much bandwidth would a usual gaming lounge require?

Where can I get PC parts in bulk (preferably in the Twin Cities)? What type of peripherals should I look for (gaming or otherwise - local or branded)? Where can I get consoles (PS4 and Xbox One) in bulk and also spare controllers (preferably in the Twin Cities)? Where can I buy original games for said consoles? Is there a potential market for VR gaming in Pakistan? How much would a VR headset cost along with the PC and where can I buy them? How many PCs/Consoles should I start with?

How much would I initially need to invest in the venture keeping in mind the above questions and also the rent for a shop and daily and monthly expenses?

Thank you in advance for reading and possibly answering a few questions.
@manigamer (I hope you don't mind me tagging you. Nanow told me that you run a gaming lounge and to mention you in my post) I hope you can help me out.
yeah mani might have an idea
 

manigamer

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Jun 28, 2007
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@AbbY, @manigamer ab kiya @fraggerPops bhai ko kiya bataien keh post-covid world mein gaming zone keh kiya halatat hain. :(
haha

well yeah covid has affected many business gaming zones being no different, currently me and goldie's are shut down since covid is serious and precaution taking is little to none even with taking precautions is a risk.

coming on point what the OP asked for

a successful gaming zone. well that depends on various factors surrounding the area where you start. one can put a million in a zone in a sector and it just won't run where as the same zone in just 2 areas away with same prospects is running very well. so it depends on various factors surrounding the area especially on what the people in the specific area want .

where ever you open i would ask you to first to a racky around the place. ask people around etc or online in that specific area what they would want to have as gaming, are they into consoles or pc ? what kinda games they like to play etc and than accordingly put in the power. i had jumped in kinda blindly into this venture and i have learn't a lot during the past 4 years. i had forced some stuff that people did not wanted but eventually had to learn that not everything goes as planned as you learn along the way and have to keep at it to make one place successful enough. i run a complete console gaming zone with total online activity for all consoles , have 8 in total ps4's running atm with no pc's. so in regard to pc i won't be any help in that.

initial lum sum amount about 10 to 15 plus 5 more for extra expenditure, i have a pretty simple zone nothing extravagant keep that in mind, a bit more extravagant than perhaps 2 to 5 more. that was my initial running costs about 4 years ago. need to put in a few k's every few months etc subscriptions, new games and all that.

VR gaming is a fad, i have one unit of psvr and its not a thing to invest into. keep it simple and that's about it. for buying i don't know anything about islamabad shops etc so you gotta do that on your own. find some wholesaler in islamabad or rawalpindi perhaps and get consoles at good prices from em

the best i can say is that you need to give it your all and stay in there. it will not be easy at times. at times you would feel its not working so you gotta stay in there.
 

fraggerPops

Newbie
Jun 10, 2018
23
1
4
Pakistan
haha

well yeah covid has affected many business gaming zones being no different, currently me and goldie's are shut down since covid is serious and precaution taking is little to none even with taking precautions is a risk.

coming on point what the OP asked for

a successful gaming zone. well that depends on various factors surrounding the area where you start. one can put a million in a zone in a sector and it just won't run where as the same zone in just 2 areas away with same prospects is running very well. so it depends on various factors surrounding the area especially on what the people in the specific area want .

where ever you open i would ask you to first to a racky around the place. ask people around etc or online in that specific area what they would want to have as gaming, are they into consoles or pc ? what kinda games they like to play etc and than accordingly put in the power. i had jumped in kinda blindly into this venture and i have learn't a lot during the past 4 years. i had forced some stuff that people did not wanted but eventually had to learn that not everything goes as planned as you learn along the way and have to keep at it to make one place successful enough. i run a complete console gaming zone with total online activity for all consoles , have 8 in total ps4's running atm with no pc's. so in regard to pc i won't be any help in that.

initial lum sum amount about 10 to 15 plus 5 more for extra expenditure, i have a pretty simple zone nothing extravagant keep that in mind, a bit more extravagant than perhaps 2 to 5 more. that was my initial running costs about 4 years ago. need to put in a few k's every few months etc subscriptions, new games and all that.

VR gaming is a fad, i have one unit of psvr and its not a thing to invest into. keep it simple and that's about it. for buying i don't know anything about islamabad shops etc so you gotta do that on your own. find some wholesaler in islamabad or rawalpindi perhaps and get consoles at good prices from em

the best i can say is that you need to give it your all and stay in there. it will not be easy at times. at times you would feel its not working so you gotta stay in there.
I initially intended to have both console and PC gaming in my lounge. I didn't really think about having a dedicated PC or console lounge. Is the initial sum you mentioned for a console gaming lounge only? With 8 PS4's how many customers at one time can you usually accommodate? What do you do if you have more customers than the number of consoles available? How do you control the time customers can use a console?

I studied a bit into PC gaming zones and how they control the time a customer can use the PC allotted to them and found out that they use software to control the PC but I didn't find anything about how to control a console with the software as the software was only for available for PCs. Do you just go by customer loyalty that they will just leave the console when they said they will or do you in any way enforce the time they said they will play and make room for other customers yourself?

How big is your shop in terms of size?

You said you have PS4s only so what do you usually do about XB exclusive games? Do you have a few XBs as well?

Have you ever hosted a tournament at your lounge? What is the process of hosting a tournament?

What about TVs? What kind of TVs do you have?
 

FlemingWheel

New member
Jul 10, 2020
8
2
3
Buddy! You will get all the consoles, gaming keyboard, gaming mouse, gaming chair, gaming mouse pad, headsets, monitors, processor, CPU, all the necessary things from PC Fanatics.
When My friend opened the gaming zone, he also get these things from PC Fanatics in bulk. Its so Reasonable.
 

manigamer

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Jun 28, 2007
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On earth...Lahore
I initially intended to have both console and PC gaming in my lounge. I didn't really think about having a dedicated PC or console lounge. Is the initial sum you mentioned for a console gaming lounge only? With 8 PS4's how many customers at one time can you usually accommodate? What do you do if you have more customers than the number of consoles available? How do you control the time customers can use a console?

I studied a bit into PC gaming zones and how they control the time a customer can use the PC allotted to them and found out that they use software to control the PC but I didn't find anything about how to control a console with the software as the software was only for available for PCs. Do you just go by customer loyalty that they will just leave the console when they said they will or do you in any way enforce the time they said they will play and make room for other customers yourself?

How big is your shop in terms of size?

You said you have PS4s only so what do you usually do about XB exclusive games? Do you have a few XBs as well?

Have you ever hosted a tournament at your lounge? What is the process of hosting a tournament?

What about TVs? What kind of TVs do you have?
all i can say is that not everything can be told in a simple manner. what you do with your gaming zone is up to you. yes as i said my gaming zone is console only, ps4's only atm. if someone asks for xbox games atm i say not available simple. they either sit for ps4 games or go away. can't help that. my cost which i told is for ps4's 8 of them and setup etc only. for pc it would be more depends on what type of pc you want to make and i don't know much about prices for those so can't be help in that regard.

as for time control i just record the time a customer sits and when the time is done i ask them its over if they want to extend or leave. for pc's yes there is that software they use to immediately stop the pcs working but for consoles i dont think there is a software for that type.

yes have hosted couple of tournaments. it differs with how it goes as sometimes i had hosted myself and sometimes i was the venue where as another customer brought in his attendees and organized at my place. all the rates etc timings you have to deal on your own with them , set em up and stuff
 
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fraggerPops

Newbie
Jun 10, 2018
23
1
4
Pakistan
all i can say is that not everything can be told in a simple manner. what you do with your gaming zone is up to you. yes as i said my gaming zone is console only, ps4's only atm. if someone asks for xbox games atm i say not available simple. they either sit for ps4 games or go away. can't help that. my cost which i told is for ps4's 8 of them and setup etc only. for pc it would be more depends on what type of pc you want to make and i don't know much about prices for those so can't be help in that regard.

as for time control i just record the time a customer sits and when the time is done i ask them its over if they want to extend or leave. for pc's yes there is that software they use to immediately stop the pcs working but for consoles i dont think there is a software for that type.

yes have hosted couple of tournaments. it differs with how it goes as sometimes i had hosted myself and sometimes i was the venue where as another customer brought in his attendees and organized at my place. all the rates etc timings you have to deal on your own with them , set em up and stuff
Do you know anyone here in the forum that can help with the PC side of gaming lounges?

What about the internet connection? What type of connection should I have? What bandwidth would you recommend?

Also to play online on PS4s or XB1s we need a membership. The only console I have some experience with is PS2 and as we all know it doesn't have anything remotely close to being "online". How do you buy membership on PS4? Do you have to buy a membership for every console you have in the lounge or is there any way to share membership between all the consoles?
 

manigamer

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Jun 28, 2007
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On earth...Lahore
Do you know anyone here in the forum that can help with the PC side of gaming lounges?

What about the internet connection? What type of connection should I have? What bandwidth would you recommend?

Also to play online on PS4s or XB1s we need a membership. The only console I have some experience with is PS2 and as we all know it doesn't have anything remotely close to being "online". How do you buy membership on PS4? Do you have to buy a membership for every console you have in the lounge or is there any way to share membership between all the consoles?
for gaming pcs @GoldenHawk has know in that department since he has like 15 to 20 pcs at his place.

as for ps4 and xbox ones yes for online you need membership and you have to purchase them for the consoles which i did. internet speed only matters when downloading huge games but i made it work in 30mbps which was fine for me.
 

fraggerPops

Newbie
Jun 10, 2018
23
1
4
Pakistan
for gaming pcs @GoldenHawk has know in that department since he has like 15 to 20 pcs at his place.

as for ps4 and xbox ones yes for online you need membership and you have to purchase them for the consoles which i did. internet speed only matters when downloading huge games but i made it work in 30mbps which was fine for me.
Is there any way to share membership between all the consoles or do you have to buy memberships individually for each console that you use?

Is there anyone else that you might know of that is willing to help with the PC side of lounges? Seems like GoldenHawk doesn't want to help a buddy out.

Edit: Sorry for the late reply. I injured both my arms while working out.
 
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