They can adapt to life under the blockade, but that doesn’t stop platform owners from making big plans.
Located on Shoreditch in the heart of London, the Platform combines a vibrant modern aesthetic with a classic video game setting: think not cheap consoles, sofas, and rows of computers. In fact, major investments in gaming and cyberspace are ubiquitous these days, but that doesn’t mean everyone has broken the code for what makes a space stand out – or how to emulate the success of prevailing internet cafe culture. in Korea and China.
We spoke with the platform founders, brothers Tomaso Portunato, CEO, and Niccolo Portunato, CEO, to hear their thoughts on some of the latest trends in esports bars and restaurants in the Western Hemisphere.
Esports Insider: Let’s start with your vision of the platform and more. Would you like to start a franchise sometime? What are the long-term aspirations on the table?
Tomaso Portunato (TP): Franchise model, I think it’s too early for us to really know and support what we have to say. But I think the intuition we have, and we’ve seen in the past, is that not having a franchise is better than having a shaky franchise. We’ve seen this in some game concepts, but I’ve seen other, unusual hospitality concepts as well: that early aggressive franchise models could lead to brand ambiguity and inconsistencies in the experience offered to our customers. And we really want to avoid that. This is something we will focus on, but perhaps in the next phase of growth.
Where we are now in our little map is that we have a very expensive MVP that works, it’s profitable, so that’s great. The next step is to see if we can set up an operation based not on one location, but on the next third step. So we try to go out there, and I think three to five or eight – we’re going to look at the franchises here.
Regarding the concept that we want to present, I think that with our current location, we have tried a little bit of everything. So there are some sports, some games that are very casual. Some are retro, some are racing simulators. So there is something of everything.
Now let’s focus on a more focused concept. So, the next concept we’re working on at the moment is really to focus on social play and the inclusion aspect. It’s a little less sporty, it’s more like a Nintendo type, but it’s in the market for the experience. So we are here now.
I also think we realized that games weren’t enough for a place like us. This is something we were aware of last year and I think maybe other places have made a mistake. We still don’t know because we don’t have the answer about the best concept yet. But we believe games are just the anchor that keeps people coming.
“This must be a complete package that we provide to customers to create sufficient value for society.
What we’ve seen in bars and other game concepts – and you know, we haven’t seen them all yet – but we travel to Korea, we see computers crash there, we see the beginnings and the cultural phenomena they represent. We go back to England and see what is here now. And it seems that many of these places pride themselves on the hardcore gaming perks you can get at home. This is the type of vibration they create. And our point of view is: it’s good, it’s good, has a good rig, good hardware, and well-maintained hardware. But what we want to offer is the whole experience that surrounds and passes the waiters, food, drink, lighting, ambiance and music. So there is a combination surrounding it that we think is more important, right?
So, just having good hardware is not enough for us. This should be the complete package we give our customers enough value for people to think, “OK, maybe I’m not playing from home today, but I’m going to really go there because it’s a different kind of game. . Experience is. “
