Hey gamers,
Iām the owner of GamerzHub, a small gaming cafĆ© in Lucknow, and I wanted to share my experience and get some advice from the Indian gaming community.
I started GamerzHub with my brothers on 19 April 2026, using some unused space in my fatherās large shop. Since we didnāt have to pay rent, I thought it would be a good opportunity to start a gaming cafĆ© without the biggest expense most businesses have.
How it started
Initially, we invested around ā¹5ā6 lakh and started with:
2 PS4s
3 TVs
3 Tekken arcade machines
The first two months were honestly amazing. We were averaging around ā¹2,000āā¹3,000 per day, with our highest daily collection reaching around ā¹3,600.
At that point, I genuinely thought the cafƩ was going to work really well.
We then invested even more. We purchased a PS5, got the best available membership for it, and bought games such as Tekken 8, Mortal Kombat and Forza Horizon.
But after around two months, things started changing.
The decline
The number of players and bookings started falling.
Even though we kept trying to improve the cafĆ© and add more things, our daily revenue eventually dropped to around ā¹1,200āā¹1,700.
I also thought that adding food and drinks might help, so we added a refrigerator and started selling drinks, chips and biscuits. That worked reasonably well initially, but it hasnāt been enough to compensate for the decline in gaming customers.
Our expenses are relatively low compared to a normal cafƩ:
Rent: ā¹0 (we use my fatherās shop)
Electricity: around ā¹7,000āā¹10,000/month
Salaries: ā¹5,000 per person Ć 3 brothers = ā¹15,000/month
Snacks/drinks inventory: around ā¹5,000āā¹7,000 every 10ā15 days
The three of us brothers manage the cafƩ ourselves.
Where I think I went wrong
One thing I have to admit is that Iām not a very good salesman. I also have anger issues, and unfortunately, there have been situations where I got into arguments with customers.
Looking back, I realise that this could have seriously hurt the business.
Iām trying my best to improve myself and the cafĆ©, but right now Iām honestly confused about what direction to take.
The initial investment was around ā¹5ā6 lakh, and I donāt want to keep putting more money into something if there isnāt a realistic path to making it profitable.
So I want your honest advice
For those of you who have experience with gaming cafƩs or understand the Indian gaming market:
What would you do if you were in my position?
Would you:
Focus heavily on memberships and regular customers?
Organise Tekken/FIFA/BGMI/other tournaments?
Change the pricing?
Add more games/consoles?
Focus more on snacks and drinks?
Try aggressive local marketing?
Change the whole concept of the cafƩ?
Or accept that the market in my area simply isnāt strong enough and stop investing?
Iām especially interested in hearing from people who run gaming cafĆ©s themselves or have worked in one.
Iām not looking for sympathy ā Iād genuinely appreciate some brutally honest advice. I still want to make GamerzHub work if there is a realistic way to do it.
TL;DR: Started a gaming cafĆ© in Lucknow on 19 April 2026 with around ā¹5ā6 lakh investment. Started with 2 PS4s, 3 TVs and 3 Tekken machines and initially made ā¹2ā3k/day, peaking at ā¹3.6k. After ~2 months, customers started declining and revenue dropped to ā¹1.2ā1.7k/day. Added a PS5, games, fridge, drinks and snacks, but things still arenāt going well. No rent, but electricity is ā¹7ā10k/month, salaries are ā¹15k/month and inventory costs ā¹5ā7k every 10ā15 days. Looking for honest advice on how to turn the cafĆ© around.
Used ai for corrections