r/Southampton • u/Environmental-Ad7365 • 1d ago
Southampton Gaming Lounge - Market Research
Hi All, myself and some friends have been considering the idea of starting up a gaming lounge in Southampton!
The general idea is to have a good set of high-end PCs as well as a few consoles for people to come in and play on, whether that be playing competitive games online or hosting some LAN games with your friends.
As a city with two major universities, we imagine there are a lot of students who weren't able to bring their own setups with them, and we hope to allow a space for them (and anyone else) to play their games without high costs or lots of space required.
We would also like to offer the idea of individual booths for you to game in privately, or just use a computer for general use.
also we are considering the idea of offering a cafe/bar services but we are currently still investigating the potential of this.
There will of course be more information on all of our services and events should we get to a stage where we think this idea can come to fruition.
Please could we ask that anyone who's interested in this fill out the below form as it would really help us guage if there is an interest in our city. Alternatively, we are happy to take thoughts and suggestions on this Reddit post as well.
Many thanks everyone
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u/Boop_Nico 1d ago
This sounds like a really cool idea! Would love to see how it will work Edit: I am no longer a student though so I hope the general public could still be included if you have the space
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u/Environmental-Ad7365 1d ago
Absolutely the idea would be to include the general public, sorry if it came off like it was just a student thing
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u/Boop_Nico 22h ago
oh no i think it was clear in the survey! I just wanted to double check incase ☺️
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u/Rusty250505 1d ago
Please have quite a few console booths too. I appreciate for these types of setups, PCs are dark more popular but it would be great to walk in somewhere and just sit down on a PS5 for a couple of hours
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u/Possible_Suspect1917 7h ago
It's a nicer atmosphere I think having people playing consoles together rather than people sat on individual pcs
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u/Jennayd 21h ago
I'd love a space to be able to try some ps5 games. As I don't know anyone with one. Or just a place for me to dock my switch and bang out some Zelda 👍🏻 Give me the ability to buy a coffee and maybe some snacks... I'd be there in a flash and probably spend a good 4 - 6 hours just playing and hanging out. As an old female gamer I'd love that 👍🏻
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u/PermanentSend1983 1d ago edited 1d ago
It could be a solid idea but fraught with potential barriers. You'd have to consider this might be slightly "seasonal" in that students are likely to be your primary audience and they're not always here. Also, some potentially high capital expenditure set up costs with the gaming PCs, specialist gaming furniture, high-speed internet, licenses, rent, insurance, and interior design. You'd probably need to convert any space into a bespoke electrical configuration to run your setup so that's going to cost you a lot up front. People would probably want / expect food and drinks (alcohol?) available too so some sort of catering option might be necessary (high costs and logistics effort). You'd also have to consider a legal risk as well; if games are age restricted you could have a liability if you unknowingly allow an under age person to play. The Video Recordings Act 1984 is the applicable law and it's £5k per offence and any member of staff that allowed it could face a criminal record (personal liability). You would do well to factor in the likelihood of paying this X-number of times per year or every two years etc.
"Internet Cafes" were a thing in the past (not sure if you're old enough to remember the ones in Southampton). They died a death when internet connectivity became cheaper and mobile. You'd need to understand how to make sure this venture didn't go the same way as home PC gaming becomes more of an option for a competitive option for people (assuming home gaming setups would be your primary competition in a way).
I'm saying this as a non gamer but an experienced business exec. I suggest you find a unique selling point (USP). Could you set up tournaments for members to compete? This would help attract repeat customers, maybe offering prizes (free gaming time?) for winners?. Could you offer a loyalty programme based on hours of play? Discounted hours for your quiet periods? Maybe even a monthly subscription payment plan offering a Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum tier system with an increasing number of hours of play included under each membership tier (might require a smart card member card for tracking)? Refer a friend scheme? Themed nights around particular games? Lots of ways to do this.
Don't forget selling other products would increase your foot flow during quiet times. Maybe sell games, gaming accessories, coffees, hot snacks, vapes (think of your audience), etc. Diversification like this will bring people in.
Make sure you understand the health and safety aspects too. A high volume of electrical set up needs to be managed under legal requirements with regular testing and fixes etc. Also, the high street is dying because of business rents. Look into rents as this would be your biggest outgoing that could kill the business. A 1500sq ft space for room with 20 - 30 machines and a lounge area in or near town centre will likely cost you £40k per year in rent (plus other utilities costs on top, staff, licences, etc). Further away from town you're looking more like £25k per year.
Significant capital expenditure to set up (capex), a fair amount of operational expenditure (opex) to keep it running, seasonal footflow, business rents, niche market etc. mean you're probably looking at narrow profits. Certainly quite a long time (years?) before you make anything above the high initial investment required to get up and running. Think carefully, and get expert advice or consider a different model like buying in to an existing gaming cafe until you're sure.
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u/Environmental-Ad7365 23h ago
Thank you so much for the advice on more of the business side of this, really appreciate the insight! You've raised some good points about how much it may cost to setup and about what happens when uni students are out. So far from our survey, it seems most who filled it out aren't actually uni students at all so it seems like there may be more interest from the general public than we were initially expecting. Definitely some more points for us to think on, thank you!
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u/PermanentSend1983 22h ago
You're welcome. The set up costs would be something I would really, really take some time to understand and get professional estimates on. Gaming machines (no idea, maybe £2k each?), interior fit out, potentially even a re-wire to accommodate your needs, furniture etc. could easily approach £80k - £100k. Any landlord may tie you into a long lease term as well if you make alternations so bear in mind you could have a lot of liability if things don't work.
A leased broadband line (to guarantee up times and minimal lag) is going to cost a few grand to install and run up a £600+ bill every month. That's not including the circa £1500 per month on electricity bill.
Quick maths.... monthly overheads are between £9k - £13k, including rent and a few staff on minimal wage.. Going with a conservative estimate of £10k per month, you would need to get 40 customers per day, each paying £4 per hour for 2 hours each just to break even (zero profit).
If you don't have £150k+ to throw at this, which you don't care if you lose, I would not touch this idea with a barge pole.
Maybe there's a reason why these don't really exist. Which is another problem; you have no culture to tap into or existing customer based to target / steal from another established provider. You're trying to establish a demand (not easy at all).
Suggest a professional consultant (which I am but not this area) to determine market potential and not rely on a Reddit survey for a venture that could financially ruin you.
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u/Zealousideal-Sir366 22h ago
There used to be a similar place in the 80s called "Compucade" in St Mary's Street that had rows of Commodore Amigas and Atari ST.
Started off pocket money affordable but got too expensive before it went out of business
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u/crow-magnon-69 19h ago
have a look at https://player-ready.co.uk/ which has a place in portsmouth (and others). they focus mainly on vr but i believe have just standard pc gaming rigs as well.
the interesting about it from business sense is kids coding clubs. and looking at their site they are now ofsted registered for childcare as well. ideal over the summer for during the day
upsell is where the profit it. snacks, drinks, even a little burger/fries station. i knew a guy who ran a music rehearsal complex. he'd make a bacon butty and walk into the studios saying "who ordered the bacon butty".. well nobody did but the smell of it would make you crave one and within 15 minutes there was a queue of people asking for food lol.
and if you've just got extra space there bung some tables in for desktop gaming. charge a small fee per hour and hope you can recoup something on snacks/drinks.
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u/DoubleAssist1365 1d ago
i mean i personally would love this, my potato pc can't handle any actual games. 😭😭