Hey Folks,

I have been in Cambodia for a while, and I'm thinking about opening a gaming center. It would have 15 PCs and 2 rooms with PS4/ Xbox 360 and movies to watch. I would supply it with original games for consoles and some popular ones for PCs (starcraft 2, Counter strike, Left 4 dead 2) so people can also play online. On the side, I could sell snacks and also genuine games.

Location would be close to BKK1, I guess my target market are mostly rich Khmer kids or Asian expats. I just wanted to ask if there are any western gamers around here, who would visit such a venue.

I'm a RTS gamer with a little FPS on the side - my bet is most western gamers prefer to be in the game cave at home.

Hm yeah tha's my concern, they all have machines and consoles at home so unless they go like a group just to have fun for a few hours they won't probably go in

mattst wrote:Hm yeah tha's my concern, they all have machines and consoles at home so unless they go like a group just to have fun for a few hours they won't probably go in

I think you can get a share on the market as long as you invest in proper equipment and valid licenses for online play. Hosting tournaments and sponsoring clans can probably provide a boost.

South Korea has a much more developed e-gaming scene, perhaps you can collaborate with somebody there? Imagine a Cambodian clan competing in a Starcraft tournament in Korea.

The problem is locals e joy vastly different games... I was surprised to see console cafes to be really popular in Vietnam. They mostly played FIFA or some other soccer game. But I think it would be hard to have a place geared towards both expats and khmers. Might be better to go look at some of the better "upper end" khmer places, then kind of copy those. After a while, you can start introducing licensed western games to the place (COD types that foreigners love). Then you would get a niche as khmers might eventually see people playing and give it a go, and before you know it all the locals want to play and you're the only place in town which offers those games. Of course, within 6 months locals will have imported real games and have undercut your prices, but that's another story altogether...

Yeah I'm planning to host weekly tournaments on consoles (FIFA) and PCs (LoL, Dota, Counter Strike). The problem is that I could buy really good equipment and games, but then would have to charge a higher which I think few people would pay. Like you said, Cambodians play very different games and aren't really aware of others in the world, and they are already used to paying low prices for this. Anyway I think I will proceed and set it up, so we will see if it works out.

mattst wrote:Anyway I think I will proceed and set it up, so we will see if it works out.

Let us know where!

There's a gaming centre with consoles in S'ville that caters to western tourists and I think I saw a café in BKK1 (St 310?) w/ consoles. You might be better off focusing on the PCs at first and then expand into consoles.

I'd definitely like to play some PS4 games if you set it up, especially if you have a decent internet connection although if it's jailbreaked by then I might prefer to play at home.

Also I'd be interested in renting a console so that I can play in the comfort of my own home.

I saw something similar on the river front in PP. It's near Brown's, I think nextdoor from Chatime but am not 100% sure. It may be worth checking that out also for market research. And no, it's not one of those places advertising mIRC on the sign in front. It looked quite OK from the outside, sorry I don't have any names.

Also one near Buffalo Sisters in TTP and one at Sovannah.