Korean firm to open more high-end gaming cafes in RP

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net KOREAN firm Sabiclub Corp. is putting up more high-end Internet café branches in the Philippines as it targets the growing demand for online gaming in the country, an executive told hackenslash. "I want to go for gaming first in the Philippines," said Don Hun Lee, CEO and president of Sabiclub Corp., owner of the Station 168 Internet cafés and the newly established i-Hooked Internet café in Recto Avenue, a university belt in Manila. I-Hooked is the first Internet café network gaming branch of the Korean company that features desktops running on Intel's latest Core 2 Quad processors. The company has installed more than 50 desktop PCs that are running on the powerful Intel processors. Configured like Korea's famous "PC bangs," roughly translated as PC rooms, i-Hooked offers a spacious area, reclining leather seats and a high-end setup for gamers who play a lot of online or networked games, said Hun Lee. "The Philippines is a third-generation PC bang, which usually feature more PCs for gamers. In Korea, we already have fifth-generation ‘PC bangs’ that are called multiplex. It is a one-stop shop for everything, including Internet, a convenience store, video, among others," he said. Hun Lee said that he expects the Korean version of “PC bangs” to emerge in the country next year. The Sabiclub executive said the company is building more i-Hooked Internet cafés in the country, with one currently being constructed in Cainta, Rizal and one being negotiated in Makati. Sabiclub has been running a chain of Internet cafes in the Philippines for at least six years. Its first Station 168 branch opened in Makati City, one of the country's financial districts, in 2001. Sabiclub aims to put up about 100 branches in two years. Currently, the i-Hooked is its 10th branch in the country. Next year, the company plans to set up 50 branches. Hun Lee stressed that its branches follow local government regulations disallowing high school and elementary students from playing during school hours. "We follow the local government rules," he added. Over the years, Hun Lee said that the profile of their customers were mostly students playing online games. Only about 30 percent go to their branches to use the Internet and related applications, such as chat and browsing. He pointed out that throughout those years, the company has maintained standard pricing. For the first i-Hooked branch, it intends to peg prices at P40 to P50 per hour to attract more students from nearby universities. There are close to 20 known universities and colleges in Recto Avenue alone. "We really don't want to ignore the needs of the market," the executive said, when asked if prices would be adjusted due to local competition.