GameTavern - If you owned a video game store....

This is funny, because I actually started making a Business Plan to try and get venture capital to get my own chain going because I was so disgusted with stores like Gamestop and EB and how they take the gaming conumer for granted. Well I quickly became busy watching ATHF, so it was thrown to the bottom of the pile on my desk.

So, its now pretty much a pipre dream, so I'll post the little a completed here:

WARNING: Some of the data used is over a year old, so don't jump on me if I'm off in places.

Quote:

I. Introduction

The Video Game industry was once a niche market that targeted mainly towards children. This is no more. For the past three years Video Games and Consoles have out performed Hollywood as the world’s largest entertainment industry, finally topping the 20 Billion dollar cap with last years earnings reaching 23.8 Billion dollars. Yet it is still treated as a niche market, and not the powerhouse that it is in reality.

The film industry markets its product in vast multiplex movie theaters and large rental chains such as Hollywood Video and Blockbuster. Meanwhile video games are mainly sold through large retail chains such as Walmart and small boutique stores such as Electronics Boutique and Gamestop. The Video Gaming populace is demanding more than what they are being given by the industry, and like in Field of Dreams “build it, and they will come”.

The American consumer is ready for a change in the way that their favorite form of entertainment is marketed and sold. The American consumer is ready for a retail chain that treats their favorite past time with the respect it deserves and the glamour that has been traditionally reserved for Hollywood.

HardCore is a retail store targeted at both casual and dedicated “gamers”. Instead a cramped, undersized boutique store, HardCore stores would be a larger store offering the highest quality audio and video components to showcase each product to make it attractive to the consumer. It is the goal of HardCore to inundate the consumer with the sights and sounds of today’s top gaming titles the minute they enter the store.

1. Presentation – Modern Video Game retail stores promote their games through modest displays and video game kiosks that allow you to play a demo of a limited selection of titles on a small screen with small speakers. At HardCore, we will have the same stations, but there will be more of them played on much higher quality video and audio components. It is our belief that a consumer is more likely to buy even a mediocre game if they try it out on a 50 inch plasma screen HDTV in Dolby 5.1 Digital Surround Sound. The store would literally reverberate with the sounds of games being played inside.

2. Contests – Retail chains treat video games like any other product such as clothing or food: Come in, buy, get out. They ignore the fact that Video Games are not just a leisure product but are quickly becoming a competitive product as well. Tournaments have sprung up across the country with prizes reaching as high as $10,000 and professional organizations such as the Cyberathelete Professional League (CPL). These tournaments have even become spectator sports to the initiated. HardCore, being the first medium-large retail chain dealing exclusively in the video gaming, will capitalize on this by creating partnerships with software publishers to help promote both their product and our stores. Tournaments, with prizes provided by the publishers, will attract attention and spectators. Spectators must come to the store to watch and will then become customers.

3. Professional, KNOWLEDGEABLE Staff – Any video game aficionado will tell you that one of the more painful experiences in purchasing video games is dealing with sales staff that does not understand the industry or the product. It will be a prerequisite for each store to have an on staff expert for each major console and one for PC games and hardware. These would be normal sales staff, but armed with the knowledge required to help out customers with any questions they may have, and it will give them the credibility needed to earn the trust of the gaming public. HardCore is for gamers, by gamers.

4. PC Gaming Central – Console gaming is now king of the hill, but PC gaming still remains a very strong market, even though it does not receive the same amount of attention from the media. There are companies such as Alienware that thrive by solely producing high-powered gaming computers. While this is a niche market, it is one with a rabid cult following that deserves more than the passing recognition that it receives from gaming boutique stores. HardCore will be the PC gamer’s headquarters. From laser mice designed for First Person Shooters to the highest of the high end video cards from nVidia and ATI, HardCore will carry it all, even if in low quantity due to the PC industry’s rapid advancement rate. HardCore will also sell for gaming PC makers on a concession basis. It would not be economically feasible to wholesale purchase and the sell these PC’s due to the aforementioned fact that the PC industry’s technology evolves at such a rapid pace. A two year old PC may as well be 100 years old in some cases. By marketing the PC’s on concession, HardCore can gain profit from the industry by giving the PC makers a physical showroom for their creations and then marketing them. The customer would choose what PC they would like, with what features, and then purchase the PC through HardCore.

5. HardCore Online – Most retail chains and gaming boutique stores have websites to move product through online ordering, and HardCore would be no different. But like most other aspects of HardCore, it would be done both bigger and better than the competition. HardCore online will provide the following:

a. HardCore Store – A virtual supermarket of video games that will provide everything we offer in store plus much more.
b. HardCore Community – A forum or message board for video game fans to discuss games and consoles to their hearts content. The goal of HardCore Inc. is not just to market video games, but video game culture as well.
c. HardCore Reviews – Honest reviews of video game products. Video game consumers are no longer gullible or children. They are smart shoppers who will respond to honest appraisals of products. This will include in game footage and screen shots.
d. HardCore Previews – Like reviews, but are used to whet the appetite of the gamer before the release of highly anticipated games. This will include in game footage and screen shots.
e. HardCore Opinions – Editorials on the state of the video game industry as a whole and also on individual companies and titles.

HardCore Online will be designed to be self-sufficient through the use of advertising, but not designed to garner profit. The website will be used as a marketing tool to push HardCore locations and product through the HardCore Store. The financial aspect of the website will be designed to break even.

Well thats as far as I got. What do you think? Would it work?