While some may find it strange to see grandpas and grandmas waving Wii joysticks around with exuberated excitement in the middle of a crowded shopping mall, this is no surprise at St Games, a video games care located at the Cathay.
St Games founders Lee Ming Wei, Gan Chia Huey Gary and Lee Teck Hou believe that video gaming is a fun and wholesome experience that can be enjoyed by people from all walks of life. Since St. Games was first set up in February 2009 at Novena Square 2, it has built a loyal base of gamers who come to hang out with friends, relax and unwind after a hard day’s work or to spend time with their grandchildren. The business got popular with so many that the team decided to shift to larger premises at The Cathay in January 2011, which saw tremendous reception from both old and new customers alike.
From ideation to execution
The trio met while they were serving their military service ten years ago. Coincidentally, all of them landed at the Nanyang Technological University and kept in touch by meeting regularly on campus. During which, they realized that their ambitions to start a business were similar and began participating in business plan competitions together. The result was to put their ideas into action upon graduation.
The concept for St. Games was shaped through some trial and error. “Our initial idea that didn’t work out was an online video games rental website, where subscribers would pay a monthly fee to rent video games,” recalls Gary. Fortunately, they were also successfully managing events by using video games and providing video game entertainment for company functions, such as family days and Dinner and Dance.
As they amassed more gaming equipment, it soon became clear that it would be a waste to not fully utilize them. So they started a video games café to generate additional revenue and keep things going. Gary explains, “We came up with the idea of a video games café when inspired by board games cafes. We figured that since we loved playing social video games such as Guitar Hero, Nintendo Wii and soccer games with our friends, why not adopt a similar approach and start a video games café so that more people could enjoy playing these games together?”
And that marked the birth of St. Games.
An inclusive space of all to have fun and play games
Stepping into the space is every gamer’s dream come true. The spanking new outlet at the Cathay boasts a wide range of gaming equipment, the latest and most popular games and content. Much thought has been placed into making the space as conducive as possible for long hours of joystick waving, body swinging and butt kicking good times.
Making full use of the given floor space to ensure that it is suitable for social gaming is a crucial aspect that the founders looked into. “We carefully calculated the exact space needed for enjoying certain games. For example, the precise space needed for a whole band with guitars, drums and singers and giving adequate space needed to comfortably play Kinect games. This ensures that customers get to fully enjoy their gaming experience, in their own rooms, without having to move too much furniture around or squeeze too much,“ Gary explains.
Long, comfortable sofas with soft cushions span across the areas in front of the gaming consoles. With an emphasis to make the space cosy, inviting and fun with larger open spaces, St. Games is a home away from home for customers who want to relax and unwind while enjoying a game with friends and family.
The space has evolved to become a melting pot of people who come in all shapes and sizes to have a good time. While most of their customers are tertiary students, St Games sees a lot of young working professionals who enjoy the same kinds of games and the occasional grandpa and grandma playing Wii and shooting games with their grandchildren. Gary jokingly tells us that the place even transforms into a part-time childcare center at times, when parents deposit their young children here so that they can go shopping.
On top of their steady stream of customers, companies also regularly engage St. Games to hold team-bonding events. Company staffs enjoy a specially tailored competition with additional game-masters. These events are easily the most entertaining to witness, as it is not often that employees gets to see their senior management mimicking the most demanding of actions while playing Kinect games. Typical moves include sprinting on the spot, throwing javelins, or even grooving on Dance Central to the latest RnB hits.
The competitive element adds to the excitement and thrill of social gaming. Although everyone is fighting to be the winner, the St. Games team also encourages groups to cheer each other on during the course of the competition.
Challenges in running the space
The biggest challenge so far has definitely been funding the space. As a retail business, 3 months of down payment is normally required to secure a physical location. A lot of money is tied up in the landlord’s care and it became the limiting factor in their development. However, the team patiently started small and progressed steadily till they had the resources to expand. “Looking back, it was definitely helpful as we gained a lot of experience in operations and marketing for St. Games,” says Gary.
The difficult part also lies in managing the huge amounts of gaming equipment needed to ensure a merry good time for all. A lot of effort goes into maintaining the equipment and wear and tear is a major concern. Issues such as scratched discs, broken consoles and controllers, faulty equipment are a daily problem, but the team makes sure that problems like these are promptly looked after by being prepared and keeping extra sets around and providing backups when required.
Keeping the games and downloaded content constantly updated is a struggle as well, as it takes hours to download and the sheer volume of new games to go through is a hassle. Fortunately, the company has a policy of introducing new downloaded content and renewing games on a bi-weekly basis, so that there are always new songs to sing on Rock Band or new games to play on Kinect.
Manpower training is an important aspect that St. Games looks after too. “We try to ensure staff who are friendly, courteous, possess good knowledge of the games, and most importantly go the extra mile to ensure that customers get the best experience here. So far we have had letters of commendation sent to our email by customers for the excellent service provided, so I think we are doing a decent job on that. However, the standards are difficult to maintain especially during peak hours, so that is a challenge as well,” he elaborates.
Where work and play come together
The most enjoyable parts of running the business are getting to play the games after opening hours and meeting new customers. Gary reveals, “Many of our current staff are past customers at St. Games @ Square 2, who got to know us while they were customers. They became interested in joining us as St Games staff, so we do get to know quite a lot of interesting people in the process. Sometimes we get to join in the game with our customers as well. For example, for games such as Rock Band, or a two versus two on FIFA soccer, we sometimes help to fill in the last slot. It’s always enjoyable to have fun while working and at the same time ensure that customers stay happy too!”
Plans for the future
Gary tells us that St. Games will continue to expand into other locations and will evolve their product offering as well to provide customers more entertainment options. Their hope is for customers to be able to treat St. Games as their personal living room, equipped with all sorts of entertainment options but yet none of the hassle of maintaining or buying the equipment.
A word to aspiring entrepreneurs
“The main advice we have is to just take the plunge. You will never know till you go ahead and try, as they say in soccer, no shot no goal!”
However, Gary cautions that while it is important to never give up, it takes more guts to admit failure and move on when a venture is unsuccessful. What is most crucial is to have determination in keeping your dream in your mind and keep trying out new ideas and new ventures.
If you’re looking to find something interesting to do with your friends, you can head down to St. Games at The Cathay for a guaranteed good time of fun and games.
St. Games can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
Looking to build a home away from home, where you can combine your passion with your business the way the folks at St.Games has created a space for their own gaming needs as well as one where they can share that passion with others? The Ultimate Start-Up Space offers you that chance; winners of the competition gets a 1400sq ft space rent-free for one year, $20,000 start up capital and an Executive Education Program from INSEAD – total prizes worth more than $170,000. Follow articles related to the competition here.
Contact Information for St Games
St. Games @ The Cathay
2 Handy Road
#04-18
Singapore 229233
Operating Hours:
12pm to 10pm
(Sunday to Thurs)
12pm to 2am
(Fri, Sat, Public Holidays and Eve of Public Holidays)
Contact Information:
Tel: (+65) 6397 2285
Email: enquiries@StGamesCafe.com
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