Earn More Money, InvestingNovember 16, 2020December 14, 2020

How Much Money Can You Make From A Gaming Café?

Gaming has become more prevalent. However, people still wonder if you can make money through gaming. We talked about how you can earn money through professional gaming. However, that’s only if you’re the gamer. What if you want to be involved in the community but don’t necessarily want to play games. If this is your chosen path, you should be looking into the business side of professional gaming. An example of this is opening up a gaming café. Some people may be asking what this is and we’ll explain it. However, it can be if you know what a gaming café is, this opportunity might pique your interest.

When creating a gaming café, there are many ways to earn money. Some may think that people will come and play games or use computers, similar to internet cafés. However, this is not the case. There are many factors that’ll affect both how much money you make and how much you’ll spend. Gaming cafés can be expensive. However, at the end of this article, we hope you’ll be able to verify whether or not creating a gaming café is for you.

What Is A Gaming Café?

Have you ever been to an internet café? Maybe even a board game café? A gaming café follows the same template. The purpose of a gaming café is for people from all over the city to become patrons. There can be many amenities. However, if you’re looking to own one, you don’t have to go overboard. Many gaming cafés just have a multitude of computers and snacks. However, there are many cafés that have gaming consoles and a large food menu for you to pick from.

Above is a video from a place known as the Ministry of Game eSports. Its a place in Toronto where you can go with your friends (or by yourself) and play your favorite games on high-end computers. In other words’ a gaming café. However, they differ from some other gaming cafés as they don’t have a menu for food. Although, if you’re working around high-end equipment you may or may not want to serve meals as it could fall and damage the computers. However, what they do offer are all the traditional gaming consoles (Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PS4) and a snack bar. Exactly how we described it above. Therefore, if you’re ever looking to go to a gaming café or see what it’s like, give the Ministry of Gaming eSports a try.

How To Own A Gaming Café?

Starting a gaming café is very time-consuming. Furthermore, you’ll need some starting capital. However, many businesses are like this. Just like in our previous articles where we’ve talked about owning operating businesses, you need a plan. The first step to devise a plan on how you execute your business and go about your day to day operations. Furthermore, you will need to create a budget. This budget will include all the potential fees and costs. Furthermore, it’ll be compared to how much profit you’re earning. This budget will keep you from losing money and help your company stay afloat.

Once all that is said and done, you will need licenses and insurances. You’ll most likely be leasing the building. However, if you plan on selling alcohol and playing music, you will need licenses.

Probably one of the most important aspects of a gaming café is the consoles. Depending on the size of your café, you’ll need a few of the main consoles and 10-20 high-end computers. Of course, the computers will cost the most as a high-end gaming pc can be up to $2,000 – $3,000 each. Looking at a few anecdotes, people have spent well over $50,000 on an initial investment. However, there are many ways that you can raise this capital. Many people believe that you have to earn the whole capital. This is not the case.

There are many ways that you can raise enough money to start your business. You can get loans from the bank, grants, and even investors. If you think finding investors is difficult, there are a few sites that connect entrepreneurs to potential investors. For example, Angel Investors Ontario is a website that acts as a third party, connecting entrepreneurs to investors.

Lastly, if you have a gaming café, you’ll need to get licenses to play a multitude of games on each computer. A common program is the Steam PC Café Program. With the Café program, you can license all computers to play a multitude of steam games at a most likely cheaper cost. Of course, you will need to go through the signup process through their website. This website can be found here.

How Much Money Can You Make From A Gaming Café?

Lastly, how much money can you make from owning a gaming café? Well, the amount you make all depends on what you offer, your overhead, and how much you charge. If you separate sections, you can set up different ways to earn money. For example, you can have one section for browsing, another for just regular computers, and the last section for high-end gaming.

For this, you’ll want to charge on an hourly basis. Furthermore, allowing people to purchase time in bulk at a discount is a good way to increase the time spent in your business. For example. say you can house 20 people in your café at a time, charging $10 per hour. If the average person stays in your place of business for 4+ hours. This equates to $800. However, this isn’t the only money you’ll be earning because you will be most likely open for 8-12 hours. Therefore, you have the potential to double or triple this money.

Another way to earn money is by hosting tournaments. By hosting tournaments you can charge players a fee play. Of course, a larger portion of that money needs to go towards the prize pool. Furthermore, hosting tournaments can increase your business and be a great marketing tool. Of course, like any business, you need to foster an inclusive and welcome atmosphere. Therefore, you will most likely have to deal with a lot of unpleasant people. If you’ve ever played games online, you will most likely know the type of people I’m talking about.

Another large portion of your income will most likely come from snacks and food. If you offer a full menu, you need to be wary of what you sell as some foods can damage your equipment if they fall. Furthermore, keeping your facility clean at all times is crucial. People are going to be in your establishment for a long time. This means people will constantly be purchasing food, snacks, and drinks. By anticipating this, you’ll be able to estimate the amount of inventory you’ll need.

It is important that you don’t overcharge people for the snacks. Keeping them at a relatively low cost will serve two functions. First, people will leave your establishment satisfied and not feeling ripped off. Secondly, you want to make your business affordable. This is one of the reasons why places like Wonderland and Clifton Hill have a slightly negative reputation, they’re known to grossly overprice their products.

Creating a gaming café can be extremely lucrative. However, in order to earn money, you need to mitigate costs and charge accordingly.

Shameed Chris Khan

Shameed is just a man on a mission to help those around him gain financial success. Obsessed with writing about all things finance, this GTA native is constantly learning and sharing his experiences with others.