>fixing notebook for a ~70 years old lady
>comes, pays, asks about gaming tier GPUs for her desktop
>little took back I inquire about the price range and what
games, solitaire, sudoku, puzzle games...
>nope, I play the Assasin
>Assassin's creed?
>yes, on my grandsons console, I just love Venice
>she pauses
>and killing people
I think something Boutique™ might be catchy and niche enough to make it! I don't see them becoming The Next Arcades, but a couple of such in a moderately sized town could work!
They'd have to have some personality to them, but as a Millenial, I feel that my cohorts and I have become somewhat tired of the gimmicks and would go for something intentional, but simple. As long as the atmosphere's good, there will be clients. Heck, could do a lot of organised events, build some community!
Edit: thinking about it, I'd totally go for something which caters to both the CS 1.6 and the Sims 2 crowds. Like, you wanna solo some Frostpunk but feel kinda' lonely doing it at your desk again? Come on over! We'll reserve you a wall desk and you can ~~butcher~~ save your citizens in peace! Might even have your favourite Monster (or whatever) flavour in stock if you let us know what you drink!
Edit 2: plus the software overhead would be minimal now that Linux runs (most of) all the games! Just have BYO Steam Account, like!
Edit 3: and a couple of rental accounts with decent libraries for those who're new to the disease. There, free business plan!:)))
An upscale but retro-themed gaming cafe would probably do well in a big enough city.
Like, instead of selling only Red Bull (but do sell that too) sell quality espresso. Instead of just instant Ramen (but do sell that too), sell Japanese-restaurant style Ramen. Charge a fair price for that, heck overcharge for it. It's a bit like a movie theatre, but you're getting quality goods not just popcorn.
You could also do well with the kinds of setups that most people can't have at home because of space / time constraints. Like a proper VR setup with the space you actually need to take advantage of it. A Flight Sim cockpit with a good HOTAS setup. A racing setup with pedals and stick. Also, just simple stuff like couches in front of a big screen for playing console games together. Even people who have a couch, big TV and good console at home probably don't get to have their pals over for gaming sessions much because they need to share the couch with spouses and kids.
Also, have lockers on-site people can rent out to store consoles, peripherals, etc. So, someone can come in, rent out a "booth", and go get their gear out of the locker if there are specialty things they want that aren't provided by the cafe.
Hell, I'd totally frequent something like that! There's a boardgame hall in our town and they hold everything from mini painting classes to pro tournaments and Campaigns, they're always packed!
It'd be the perfect environment for contemporary socialisation. I mean, we're always sharing memes and stuff, Random Hangout Time has long evolved into browsing the webs for funny cat photos together, why not formalise it, in a way!