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#1
24-03-2006, 01:22
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LF Shop in patong
Hi guys ..
i've spent the last few years looking at options for moving out of the UK . spain , france , Australia , kenya, in fact all over the world . my trade is Internet Cafes & Gaming Centres or personaly i'm a I.T.Consultant.. and after a recent visit to PB i think there could be jsut enough space for 1 more  if done properly .. does anyone know of any good size empty units available near the middle of town ? needs to be somewhere with good footfall i am however torn on the idea of an internet cafe due to wi-fi being so available.. and can't help wondering if it would be a better idea to take a bar over !! short of both of these what occupations do expats normaly take up after the move .. i can't bear the though of sitting around being a permanant tourist Last edited by magy : 24-03-2006 at 01:59. 
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#2
24-03-2006, 02:38
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I think a "Computer GAMING centre" would be something appreciated by the young farangs in Phuket. I can think of many things that would make it unique from the rest, however gaming machines are alot more expensive then some "internet browsing computers"
Which reminds me, i havent seen a flipper machine in Thailand yet, do they exist?! 
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#3
24-03-2006, 02:52
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let me tell you. go to a thai neighborhood, maybe where the girls live, these little thai kids are in there filling up all the spaces playing computer games. just packed! i dotn know what they are charged, but there is nevere a space
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#4
24-03-2006, 03:04
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I can imagine, but i havent seen a realy cool gaming cafe in Patong yet, does it exist? I used to play a shitload of computer games, and i still play occasionally. I guess my biggest addictions so far has been MMORPG's.
A gaming cafe differs alot from a normal internet cafe, or atleast it should! And thats why i think it would work if you spend enough money to make it hyped enough, with modern, spacy interior etc. A gaming cafe also need other things imo, such as, console gaming, arcade machines, events, tournaments etc etc. Im sure if i had enough money to have a go at this i would not fail!
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#5
24-03-2006, 03:13
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i know in korea gaming centres are a goldmine and are on nearly every street corner..thailand and singapore seem not to of caght up so much yet for some reason... and am pleasantly surprised by the 2 responces from BM's so far ..
finding the right place to open is going to be the hard part i think .. then all the company red tape ... anyone interested in joining forces , lol .. but seriously .. i've been doing gaming centres in the UK for over 7 years now .. and am involved in a way with over 80 centres now .. the UK for me now though holds little future, the prices we have to pay on the rent alone for good shop premises make it hard to earn money! and any profit is soon in the coffers of tony blair via the taxman. the hardware prices at a guess in thaliand will be cheaper that the UK ,, i usualy budget around £500 per pc on the gaming front but have enough contacts within the hardware industry now ATI,AMD and a few others to get things pretty well subsidised in exchange for throwing there name around i need enough space for around 25 pc's a few xbox360's and PS2's my place in the UK is "globalgaming arena" in birmingham (do a google search as unsure if we're allowed to post url:s on this forum) and oh dear jimholio have i sown a seed here and created myself competition or a prospective partner . lol tournies and the like are one thing i'm good with .. so if i ever get this off the ground i'll promise you some good ones .. i've helped run the worldcybergames in the UK for 2 years (2003/4) and the european gaming championships 2004 .. tech director of the events .. Last edited by magy : 24-03-2006 at 03:25.
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#6
24-03-2006, 03:25
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Wrong, the hardware prices are the same or above, however the running costs of things in Thailand would ofcourse be alot less expensive. I think it would work if you put enough effort into it. All kids loves games and thats a fact that is not gonna change, as long as you keep your cafe updated with the new games. But lets say you buy 25x high end machine, get a good price and pay around 800-1000Euro a piece, thats still alot of money to invest. Then you need to license a bunch of games for online play. You need a high end broadband, or multiple ADSL lines unless there are fiber sollutions in Phuket. Id say you wouldnt get started for less then 40.000-50.000Euro + everything included.
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#8
24-03-2006, 03:40
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a lot of the hardwarwe i have already from where i am now .. so the cost of that won't be to bad , the question there will be to choose either to sell it all the stuff i've got and buy again or import it over in a container and get hammered on import duty (bit of a cop out really as most of it is made is hong kong lol) , think its better to assume i'd have to sell it off here and re-buy , the small expensive stuff like HDD's,Ram,CPU's could fit the whole lot in my suitcase tho
... would be nice if i could transport the xbox360 pods over thos as it would not be possible to replace these demos units ...on the game accounts ... mmm .. in the uk on games such as worldofwarcraft we get the games to use there own accounts which they pay for themselves monthly .. not viable to have in house accouts as imagine them screaming when a little lad deletes there level 60 gnome preist in teir 2 epics .. all the other online games i already have tons of .. BF2,COD2,etc all the valve accounts .. internet , i currently pay around 10k euros per year for a 2mb leased line . (E1).. a bonded adsl should do the job and seems comparitvly cheap in thailand) but all the hardware issues asside i've got to find a feasable premises to do this in ..
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#9
24-03-2006, 03:44
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Yep but so does everything. I believe if i had a million i could make another 2 in less then a year. But when starting with nothing it takes a long time get anywhere. Im not looking to make money tho, im looking to enjoy my life and make a living doing something i like. And this would definitly be one of these things
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#10
24-03-2006, 03:53
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starting costs are just a fact of life when starting a venture like this .. and i too think this could be huge .. if i compare it with paying paying a good will gesture to take a bar lease over tho then its not to bad a cost .. the store i have now cost around £50k to setup but it does not have to be all in one go ... even someone with less startup funds could do it .. starting with fewer machines and then getting more as it goes . one benefti of thialand i guess is the copyright police would not be checking to make sure that you every pc has an original of every game installed .. lol
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#11
24-03-2006, 03:57
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Perhaps in the shopping centres of phuket. In pattaya there are shopping centres which have games machines usually on the upper levels, incredibly popular with the locals and like Paul said, difficult to actually get a go, each machine usually had 1 playing with 3 - 6 looking on
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#12
24-03-2006, 03:59
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10k euros a year for a (T1?) are you crazy About importing tech stuff to Thailand, i believe you would lose more on that then to sell it all and rebuy. MMORPG's are a VERY important part of a gaming cafe i figure, as these games keeps customers coming back every day. I believe a World of warcraft cafe (alone) in Phuket would make a viable profit. Just consider this. How many people in England, USA, Sweden, Denmark, Norway etc around the age 12-30 have not heard about World of warcraft or know someone playing it, or play it themselves? But it would not work. The connection between Thailand and Europe is way too slow. The ping and packetloss between Thailand and the european wow servers would make it unplayable at peak times. *edit* That new shopping mall in Phuket, if it ever gets finished, i wonder what the rent would be there for something like this? (After reading the reply from Butterflyblonde) Last edited by jimholio : 24-03-2006 at 04:02.
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#14
24-03-2006, 04:10
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Too much money, and not enough income in that Marc. A "used" flipper alone would be around 1000Euro + import. Consider how many 5baht coins that is to make up for the arcades. If you wanna buy new arcade games, the baht coins are simply not big enough to cover such huge costs before the machines gets outdated.
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#16
24-03-2006, 04:27
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10k euros for a T1 in the UK is what we pay now .. and thats damn cheap for the UK ! we started off 7 years ago with a 256k leased line that cost £15k then .. . .. i don't see the the packet loss being a huge problem , i played on the korean wow servers when they were beta and also the USA ones .. and although it was higher than euro connection to euro servers it was still playable . asia has its own wow servers tho anyway i understand with quite a few english speaking players so it would only be the hard core holidaymakers who would want to play wow on a euro server anyway i'd think ..
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#17
24-03-2006, 04:33
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good point .. drawback doing this in a non tourist area would make it very hard to pay the bills .. the charges need to cover enough for hardware upgrades on a fairly frequent basis its not just kids tho .. pc gaming covers a huge market including 18-40+ year olds with disposable income .
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#18
24-03-2006, 09:46
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Well you getting lots of positives..
As far as a internet cafe even a high end internet cafe.. there is just too much competition.. 40 - 60 baht per hour for net use and 25 baht per hour for game use are the rates. I know of one fully equipped place on Nanai for sale right now with the shutters down, opened last year and done really well with all machines properly set up and equipped with cams and mics etc.. always thought being well managed and well equipped he would make a good go of it.. Just cant make ends meet on the margin. Now I understand your trying a tweaked concept of a gaming cafe.. Well the first thing is there are not rich farang kids here to pay that premium.. Thai kids are not going to get money out of thier parents for >100 baht per hour use when thier parents just see 'game' as being 25 baht per hour tops. Even 100 baht per hour is what 2.50 USD.. Does that cover depreciation, overheads, location rental, etc ?? Perhaps a really large investment in one of the malls that sold games, hardware, was decked out with slick decor and lighting, would have a chance but the outlay (100k per month easy) in rental alone does not get recouped from gaming by the hour. I know lots of guys who have tried the net cafe line.. Every single one lost money and got burnt. High end, low end, etc.. None really tried the gaming push but I just dont see the disposable income in the Thai market for this.
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#19
24-03-2006, 09:51
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Also add that net use is now being offered free by so many bars and places that Cafes are getting killed.. With a wifi card I can hit multiple open hotspots down nanai for free, so can sit in a bar and get my net for the price of my drink.
The gaming segment on Phuket lacks a good large scale gaming shop. We have games not dead in Lotus but with a import 360 being 35k last time I looked and import jap games for it 2500 - 4500 (!!!) per game (and bear in mind you will need to use legit games in a farang owned place.. Bent copies and you will get grassed up and fined by jealous competition) make this a large investment for what I cant see as a large margin return. Adult gamers buy thier kits.. Thai Kids dont have the money.. Korea etc has a different cultural bias and also a different disposable income.
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#20
24-03-2006, 09:51
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what about a full-on arcade center. i think youd have a huge customer base: farangs bg's with farangs and even thais again start costs would be big, rent huge but i think you could get the customer base
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#21
24-03-2006, 10:19
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A full on arcade ?? Sure but your investment is millions not even 100's..
Only place location would work would be central, Jungceylon, or perhaps the Thai but now getting down at heel robinson etc.. The costs of these places is just so high. Jungceylon would be your ideal location, farangs with time on thier hads and disposable income but Rob can tell you better than me the projected costs of ground rents.. Then specialist hardware, lets say plasma and flat screen + xboxes + PS3's.. Real high end broadband for the game systems.. Gaming is new media style entertainment.. Its an up and coming segment of the market and no one is doing that properly here.. I just see it as way to much inward investment and thin margin returns. I dont see it as being possible on Thai customer base.
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#22
24-03-2006, 11:42
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As Sefton says dont enough in it, I have also been down this road a year or so ago and did the sums, just doesnt return enough for your investment. If your not looking at making money then go for it.
Also you seriously look at the costs of importing all your hardware from the UK, as that amount will not be considered personall use, and you will be hit hard by customs. Sometime ago I was told that the pinball and other pay per play gaming machines fall under gaming the licensing provisions, so basically forget about a farang getting a license for that.
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#23
24-03-2006, 12:01
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Korean net is leaps and bounds over Thai.. Dont forget that they still have a gov telco monopoly on data traffic.. Big costs low service.. Slow and bad delays and pings.. Always feels just behind the curve of whats happening.
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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