Checking out Fortress Melbourne
For those that like to enjoy gaming, in any of its many forms, videogames, board games, esports or classic arcade games, there are very few venues where you can go and just enjoy your brand of gaming and the rest. Sure, there are countless that are dedicated to one type only, but now there is Fortress.
I was lucky enough to be given early access to Fortress, while the finishing touches were being applied, and even without everything set up 100%, it is super impressive. In the past, there have been countless venues that have wanted to combine a bar and a gaming space and some have had success for a year or two, but eventually, things change and the games are ignored, or people don’t want to drink and the business changes to suit the demand and then loses some of its hard won customer base. It is a story that we have seen happen many times, but Fortress is aiming to bypass all that, but offering countless options to players, drinkers, foodies and just about everyone else under the sun. There are four distinct zones for Fortress, each with a focus, but there are a few smaller ones as well, so let’s jump in.
Depending on how you enter, your first experience might be different, but lets use the shopping centre entry and our point of reference, before you step in fully, you will be greeted by a welcome desk and gift shop, but it is through the double set of double doors that you will be wowed, as you will have just stepped inside the 200 seat Alienware Arena. This space is massive, but it is not the largest in the place, though it is impressive, here the space can be configured to allow for people to watch teams battle it out in whatever game they are playing, but if you have the money, you can rent the space and have it turned into a giant Lan room, like Ubisoft did for their recent Rainbow Six Siege event. Near the back of the space is a small bar, which has some tv’s mounted above it, so you can just enjoy the gaming action, whilst enjoying a drink of choice, there are not seats here, but there are some bar tables to make use of, but if you want to sit, you will need to read on.
From here though, we venture downstairs, and we emerge into the Tavern, which if I am being honest is the coolest room in the place, imagine a bar from any role playing game you have ever played, except now its real and you can eat, drink and game inside of it. There are countless tables for people to sit at and enjoy a meal, a massive long table, for those who want to pretend they are part of a massive banquet, and in the other corner, a series of tables and board games, for those that want to just roll the dice and see where the night takes them. Surrounding these tables are a few private, and I use that term loosely, sections and an impressive hearth for people to enjoy, those who want to make use of the hearth, it is done by a first come first serve, the ‘private’ tables are ones you can book and make use of on an hourly basis, and as they all have their own tv’s for console gaming, you can make a night with friends there.
Next to the Tavern is the purpose-built Lan room, where you can jump in and enjoy PC gaming with another few dozen gamers, the set up here is impressive as all the gear is Alienware, which as their official hardware partner, makes sense. Not only are the computers Alienware, so are the screens, keyboards and mice, headsets and even the chairs, everything is built to make the ultimate gaming experience. The desks themselves are even custom built and have spaces for your food or drinks to sit, away from your gaming space, and they also have usb ports, so those that want to use their own gear, can do so as well. There is not a lot of space to wander around though, so it is unlikely you can just walk through and see what people are playing, there is however a very large window that allows you to see in from the Tavern, so that is something.
Now we are leaving the realm of larger and going for the smaller spaces, there are a few to choose from, the largest of the smallest is the long bar, which as its name suggests is a long bar. This is the place where you can sit and just enjoy a drink, while the Tavern is themed, this is more like a modern-day pub, only that pub is surrounded by gaming everything. Taking a walk to the far end, you will find yourself able to head up to the Alienware Arena, or around the corner and you can enjoy some classic and modern pinball machines. For those that want some more arcade style action, you can head to the other end of the long bar and enjoy some Mario Kart or Halo arcade machines. This is perhaps the place to bring folks that are not gamers, to help them ease into that world and even if they don’t want to see the games, it is a really long bar, with plenty of drinks on tap to enjoy.
Surrounding the Long Bar are the smaller spaces, there are four dedicated streaming booths, for those that want to stream games, but maybe don’t have the gear themselves. There is a smaller scale Lan room, which can be booked out for a private event or so and there is even a conference style room, for those who want to have a more tech orientated lecture, complete with PC’s and more. There are even more rooms hidden away down there, including a few private spaces for teams to prepare before a match, or anything else they can think to do there, Fortress Melbourne has it all, but the questions remain, why this type of space and why Melbourne?
Thankfully I was shown around by the creator Jon Satterley and was asking questions the entire time, but at the end, I had the chance to ask about the why and how it all came to be, as once you go through yourself, you will see how impressive it is. Here is what Jon had to say in response.
“Once we started, the original idea a couple of years ago, was to build an eSports arena, and that’s because seemed to be much more on the tip of everyone’s tongue and captured the zeitgeist of eSports. I was across that and thought this is where that area of social gaming is going and esports is what we should do, which is also when we partnered with Allied eSports and the HyperX Arena in Las Vegas and thought, this is the benchmark of what you need to do.”
“Then a couple of things happened, as we were teasing out the model, we noticed that Las Vegas works, as their space does massive business in the corporate B2B sense, there are conferences and conventions going through all the time, so they are looking for something to do, so they book the space out. We looked at it and went, we can’t do that, Melbourne isn’t Las Vegas, we might get a few bookings for conferences, but we need a much more powerful that accommodates the walk in’s. That that then had to become about food and drink and about the Lan stations and extending the revenue streams, beyond just one or two things.”
“That become a pivot point in our thinking and that really opened the floodgates and everything changed, we said this is not an eSports business, this is a business for gamers, about building a home for gamers and eSports, so we have to cater for that, hence the Arena. But we had to find a space that would let us build out all of the stuff we needed and luckily and happily at the same time, this space in Emporium opened and then it was holy shit, this was the convergence of our dreams. There is a high ceiling, amazing spot for the arena and this empty giant basement to drive the rest of the other stuff.”
Fortress Melbourne has a lot to prove of course, can a space that is dedicated to gaming, in all its forms, really deliver what gamers want, I say it can, the space is massive, the list of offerings just as large and given its central location, it is not out of the way from anywhere else. With it open now, you don’t have to take my word for it, you can just jump into the Melbourne CBD and enjoy it for yourself. Make sure you check prices though, as there are some costs associated with things, but they do have a membership to ensure they can offer you the best they can.
