Although Slackin’ Internet Café’s seating was already much more spacious than other internet cafés, there were still limits to how spacious it could be.
When playing online, all a player needed was a desk and a chair. Even with enough space left on both sides and behind for others to move freely, allowing for sufficient extra room, it would only take up about four or five square meters at most.
While VR equipment could theoretically be used in a four or five square meter space, this was just the basic space required for the game, without accounting for buffer zones.
If playing in one’s living room or study at home, five square meters of space would be enough, because it was a private space, and there was basically no need to worry about bumping into things or other people while playing.
But an internet café was different.
If two players each had five square meters of usable area, but both were constantly moving and swinging their arms, they could easily bump into each other, affecting the gaming experience.
So, to be safe, if they were to convert to VR equipment, they would need to create partitions, and the space would have to be larger than at home. The actual area required would be at least six or even seven square meters.
If each device added two square meters of floor space, wouldn’t the number of customers the entire space could accommodate be much less?
Moreover, VR games were just a novelty and not a long-term solution. Most customers’ real needs were still to team up with friends on computers and play PC games.
Once Slackin’ Internet Café opened this VR game experience zone, the likely result would be decent occupancy at first, but it would quickly become increasingly deserted, with no one interested after the initial excitement passed.
People on the first floor would want to play, but there would be no computer stations available; all the VR equipment on the second floor would be empty, with no one coming to use it.
How wonderful that scene would be!
Next, Pei Qian went to Slackin’ Internet Café’s retail area, which was the sales section.
This layout had been finalized when planning Slackin’ Internet Café 1.0. The retail area wasn’t large, just four or five display cabinets, selling mainly gaming-related peripherals such as mice, keyboards, controllers, and so on.
After Slackin’ Internet Café developed the ROF computer assembly business, there were also items like graphics cards, memory, or complete ROF systems being sold and displayed.
As far as Pei Qian knew, the peripherals here sold quite well!
Because Zhang Yuan had been in charge of Slackin’ Internet Café before, the shop assistants he hired all had good computer knowledge. The keyboards, mice, and headphones they selected were all classic models from top-tier, well-known brands, absolutely reliable.
Players would come over, try them out, find them good to use, and make a purchase on the spot. Although they were a bit more expensive than online prices, most customers who could afford to come to Slackin’ Internet Café didn’t mind the price difference.
After Slackin’ Internet Café became popular, with its large flow of people, this became a major source of income!
Pei Qian said, “Clear out all third-party products here, including keyboards, mice, headphones, etc. We won’t sell them anymore! We’ll only sell our own Tenda products.”
“Of course, we’ll keep the recommendation function. Shop assistants can still recommend peripherals like keyboards and mice to customers, but after recommending, let the customers order online themselves. We won’t make money as middlemen anymore.”
This way, Slackin’ Internet Café would lose another source of income.
Although switching to Tenda products might still generate profits, overall, Tenda currently had fewer products, and this area could only display a few items, significantly reducing the variety compared to before. Sales would definitely drop dramatically.
Moreover, once the “professional sales team” led by Tian Mo was fully assembled, Pei Qian would arrange for those salespeople to “occupy” all the sales areas of Slackin’ Internet Café in sequence, creating a deterrent effect on customers.
This way, Slackin’ Internet Café’s income would definitely decrease!
Although it might not decrease by much, small amounts add up.
Now that Slackin’ Internet Café had opened so many branches, if each store decreased a little, the total would be a significant figure.
Xiao Peng frowned, thinking seriously.
Clearly, he was interpreting the deeper meaning behind Mr. Pei’s words.
Xiao Peng was one of the early employees at Slackin’ Internet Café who had personally witnessed the whole process of turning losses into profits. He had personally managed the Slackin’ Internet Café 2.0 and 3.0 models, so he had a very deep understanding of the entire business model.
Obviously, he felt there were some issues with Mr. Pei’s plan.
“Mr. Pei, VR games may well be a major trend in future game development, I understand that completely.”
“But… VR game development is still too immature at present, and the entire player base is orders of magnitude smaller compared to PC gamers.”
“Players interested in VR games, compared to PC gamers, probably don’t even amount to a tenth of the number.”
“I certainly agree with setting up a VR section in Slackin’ Internet Café, but is it really necessary for it to take up the same space as computers? I think a 1:2 ratio would be about right, or even smaller.”
Pei Qian chuckled.
He knew this Xiao Peng wouldn’t so willingly accept this money-losing plan.
But it didn’t matter; Mr. Pei had a silver tongue ready for these stubborn diehards.
“You’re right, the VR player base compared to PC gamers is indeed several orders of magnitude smaller.”
“But… have you considered that it’s precisely because of this reason that we need more VR equipment?”
“Huh?” Xiao Peng was stunned, not immediately grasping the point.
Pei Qian explained, “Five or even ten years ago, internet cafés were much more popular than they are now. Why? Because most players were relatively poor back then, couldn’t afford high-end computers, couldn’t get the best gaming experience, so they chose to go to internet cafés with friends to play together.”
“Why has the entire internet café industry changed in recent years? Why are internet cafés becoming fewer but more refined, transforming from smoky, low-end places to high-end cafés with elegant, comfortable environments?”
“It’s because the function internet cafés serve has changed.”
“Now people’s economic level is higher, and more people have their own high-end computers, so internet cafés are targeting a narrower audience and have had to change their model.”
Xiao Peng nodded, strongly agreeing with this point.
Clearly, this was also one of the key reasons why Slackin’ Internet Café could stand out among internet café brands: it was the earliest brand to focus on high-end cafés, leading the entire market by a year or two.
Pei Qian continued, “In the future, internet cafés may not disappear, but their attribute of being purely for gaming will definitely fade. Moreover, in recent years there’s also been a trend of PC games gradually declining while mobile games rise rapidly, making the situation for internet cafés even more difficult.”
“The VR gamer community is indeed relatively small, but have you considered: precisely because VR is new and there are fewer players willing to buy VR headsets, they’re more likely to come to internet cafés for the experience? And by configuring a large number of VR headsets in Slackin’ Internet Café, allowing players’ enthusiasm for trial gaming to be satisfied as much as possible, the entire VR player community will expand faster?”
Pei Qian spoke with a serious expression, as if he truly believed what he was saying.
In reality, he knew very well that in his memory, this wasn’t a particularly viable business model. At least in his impression, none of those high-end internet cafés had converted half of their computers to VR headsets.
But it didn’t matter; this didn’t stop him from making things up to fool Xiao Peng.
Pei Qian firmly believed that with his powerful ability to deceive and his acting skills, plus the halo of being the helmsman of Tenda Group, he could certainly arrange things crystal clear for Xiao Peng and make him fully accept this decision.
Sure enough, after deep thought, Xiao Peng’s face showed a look of sudden realization.
“So that’s it!”
“The success of Slackin’ Internet Café was because we understood the development patterns of the entire internet café industry and stayed ahead of all our competitors; and now, when a large number of high-end internet cafés have emerged and competition is fierce, we are taking another big step forward, once again staying ahead of all our competitors!”
“When the time comes, the VR experience zone will be a core selling point that distinguishes us from other internet cafés!”
“Mr. Pei is indeed far-sighted!”
Having suddenly seen the light, Xiao Peng also came up with some ideas: “Mr. Pei, if that’s the case, I have a suggestion.”
“We can make all the computer desks and monitors on the second floor foldable, put the host computers on racks overhead, hang up all the mice, keyboards, headphones, headsets, etc., and use folding chairs too.”
“This way, in the folded state, players have ample space to experience VR content, and when the desktop and stool are unfolded, players can also play computer games normally.”
Pei Qian: “…”
You really are a clever little devil!
Clearly, Xiao Peng’s solution was a compromise. Although the entire VR experience zone would primarily be for experiencing VR, it could also be used for normal internet browsing and gaming.
This was like having an insurance policy; when the VR trend faded, players could still come back to play computer games.
Pei Qian laughed inwardly.
Oh, Xiao Peng, if you hadn’t told me and had just gone ahead and done it secretly, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it afterward.
But now that you’ve told me, haven’t you allowed me to take preventative measures?
After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian immediately said, “Of course not!”
“Making monitors and computer desktops foldable shouldn’t be a big problem. But making chairs foldable too? They definitely wouldn’t be comfortable to sit in!”
“No matter how well designed a folding chair is, it’s hard to compare with a specialized ergonomic chair, gaming chair, or single-person sofa, because the premise of folding will inevitably sacrifice comfort.”
“We want to give players the most perfect experience; we can’t just make do like this.”
Xiao Peng thought for a moment: “Uh… Mr. Pei, you have a point. This indeed isn’t appropriate.”
“But even for playing VR games, you still need a host computer, right? After all, those large VR games are all processed on the host computer. And when opening game platforms or searching for content, you still need to use a mouse, keyboard, and monitor.”
“Even if we eliminate the chairs, these things can’t be omitted, can they?”
Pei Qian thought about it and realized he was right.
Given the current level of VR headset technology and content, it was impossible to completely replace PCs. Much of the content needed to be set up on a PC first before putting on the headset for the experience.
All-in-one VR devices could only run VR games with complexity similar to mobile games; those large games still needed computers for processing.
So monitors, host computers, and mouse/keyboard were still essential.