This was posted 2 years 10 months 11 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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[VIC] 20 Hours of PC LAN Gaming for $60 ($3/hr) @ Fortress Melbourne

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This huge gaming place is Melbourne usually charges pretty high prices due to offering pretty premium gear and a big library of free accounts to play games on, but since they're shut they have put up a deal that is only $3 per hour to hire the PC's if you buy in bulk. It is usually $24 for 2 hours

Have been a few times and love the vibe, there's a tavern downstairs and can order food and drinks to your PC while gaming against your friends.

They are also offering bottomless pizza, food & drink deals from $85 for two hours which includes Playstation/Switch play but have not included in the title as wasn't sure if this was technically a deal or not. Heavily reduced from their normal cost though!

Highly recommend this spot!


What’s included?

20 Hours of premium PC game play at just $3 an hour!

Gaming sessions to claim any time, off-peak or on-peak

The ultimate gaming experience on our state-of-the-art Alienware battlestations

Freeplay of 100s of games – most with no owned account needed

Play your way with a console controller or keyboard and mouse

This gaming pass must be Redeemed within 3 months of the venue reopening

Related Stores

Fortress Melbourne
Fortress Melbourne
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  • +10

    $24 for 2 hours? jesus christ - i remember when the old humble net cafe back in the day was at most $5 an hour.
    edit: and even in korea it's still around $1-2 per hour.

    • +1

      Do you also reminisce of the days when petrol was 50c/L?

    • yeah pretty dear, but irrelevant comparing prices here with other countries

  • +5

    Surprised PC Cafes are still alive. Have so many fond memories of playing with friends after school.

    • +1

      This place hosts a lot of huge Lan events too from what I’ve seen advertised on scorptec Facebook.

      Also had a friend go with her friends and said it was absolutely awesome. Apparently a lot more to do then just sit at a desk too.

      • +6

        I wish something like this was in Sydney. All the Lan cafes here are all for the international students and everything is in chinese/korean.

      • +6

        Yeah definitely just more than a a PC, Keyboard and Mouse. Probably would liken it to paying around $20 or so to go to a bowling alley for one round. You're getting similar entertainment value with good service/food and beverage.

        • +1

          Yeah I agree, similar to laser tag places too! I just remember her Instagram story had heaps of clips of them doing all these different activities/VR/other tech things I’d never seen. Music playing, lots of cool different lighting throughout each space etc, & her recommendation to go. It’s not really MY thing per se, but I see the fun to be had for many geeks that I know! So I say it’s good value right now! ✅

  • $60 for 20 hours in case anyone was wondering

  • +2

    $12 per hour is ridiculous

    • Ya wtf is this. I went to the grand opening and its nice but not so far removed from a normal NetCafe.

    • +2

      If they have 3070 in their machines probably about $2500 setup

      At $10 / hour that's 250 hours

      Rent + power

      Makes for a lot of hours before they break even

      • Just FYI this place was finished before the 30xx series had even been released.

  • +4

    Gee they are in trouble if their business model relies on casual gamers. I had assumed it was more of an event space.

    • +3

      It's an interesting place, but they do seem a little bit unsure of exactly who their audience is.

  • +3

    If anyone has old pictures of The Bunker in Brisbane I’d love to see them.

    • +1

      Christ I spent some time there back in the day. All night Warlocks LAN matches were the bomb

  • +4

    Is there a list of the games they have on their PCs? Just curious!

    • +1

      I assumed you were being lazy but I actually couldn't find it either…

  • +1

    Looks like a great place and would like to do an event here with friends… but yeah I don't have the dollars.

  • +1

    most with no owned account needed

    Yeah…what? So you expect me to provide my own licensed account to play games at your cafe?

    That's not how it works.

    • +1

      How else does it work? You take turns with everybody else, playing that single character in each game?

      • +2

        The cafe has a licensed account for every PC they have. Like every cafe I've ever gone to.

        • Sorry, it's a genuine question - so how it's like in case of this cafe from this deal? And what games in particular are we talking?

          I picture you get together with friends at such a cafe and you eg. play Overwatch, but anyway you still need your own account for that, right?

          • +1

            @pizzaguy: Yeah that's basically what this cafe is offering. All they do is provide a computer but you still have to own the game yourself which sort of defeats the purpose.

            Every cafe I've been to had an array of accounts (usually just CafeNamePC#1 and so on) and had all the games purchased on all accounts. Then each computer had their own separate accounts so you could play literally anything the cafe owned without having to spend more than you did on entry (and the 2L of Red Bull you'll eventually chug).

            Steam even have a program to this day where cafes can get games really cheap on a commercial license, they just have to register and meet their Steam Cafe criteria. They can even get "floating licenses" which can be done from one single account and doled out however they need it.

  • +2

    I went here when they re-opened after lockdown. It was an interesting venue and the staff there are really excellent, but the food is overpriced and seemed low quality + very greasy. The experience felt like the creators of Fortress hadn't decided who the target demographic should be. It currently sits in an awkward middle-ground at the moment between the offerings of other, more focused venues. With some better food and lower prices, I think it would be a lot more attractive. I really hope Fortress succeeds. It could be a great fixture among GG EZ, Bartronica, etc in the CBD, just needs some changes here and there.

    • +2

      from what i gathered from the various press releases etc it sounds like the people who invested in it were people with money that wanted to cash in on the whole esports thing. hence the lack of direction and high price point. i figure most of their money is made from renting out event space for tournaments and such because the space they occupy is worth a whole bunch of moolah.

      • Ah yeah that makes a lot of sense. Really sad about the timing of it all. I remember that it launched right before the big lockdown kicked in. It was really weird to walk in and they had some Esports tournament on a big screen with big speakers, but there was no one in the seats or on the stage. Made the entry way feel a bit… sad :(

        Would be a cool additional venue when things like Melbourne Esports Open and other big Esports events are on

  • I'm assuming you can't split this past with friends? Otherwise would be pretty cool.

  • +2

    Looks pretty cool

    https://youtu.be/1OabLXTBIHg

  • Most Internet cafes in Sydney will charge $3-$5 as an everyday rate, some cheaper if you have a membership with them too.

  • Pizza and drink for $85/hour??

    You could get a whole good quality pizza and drink from the shop for under $30, which is enough that you'd want to eat in an hour. Hate to see what their regular pricing is like if that's "heavily reduced."

    • my bad its $85 for two hours have edited 😂

  • +1

    Great deal IMO.

    Their base PCs have 9700k, 2070 SUPER and 240hz monitors.

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