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Back in the early 2000s, the only way Yinka Adegoke could send an email to family and friends back in the UK and US, was to stop by an Internet cafe.

"[Internet cafes] were an important place to go to get connected to the rest of the world," he says.

Adegoke, a Nigerian and Africa editor for Quartz, says having access to Internet at home or on your phone was almost unheard of in Nigeria. But that's changing.

According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, as of February, Nigeria had 83 million active phone lines with access to mobile internet on their phones. And that has led to a decline in the number of internet cafes in Nigeria.

Many Internet cafes have turned to different businesses all together.

"One place has been turned into some sort of viewing center for people to watch premiership soccer match," Adegoke says.

While Internet cafes had become gathering places, especially for the young, Adegoke says Nigerians won't miss them.

"Things are constantly shifting," he says. Businesses change and update all the time. Adegoke himself uses apps on his smartphone to connect with his family and friends inside Nigeria.

He says in Nigeria, like many other places in the world, "I didn't get your message" won't cut it any more.

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Internet cafes in Nigeria are quickly becoming a thing of the past

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It used to be that if you wanted to go online in Nigeria, you had to stop by an Internet cafe. But as more and more people get access to smartphones, the cafes are becoming a thing of the past.

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Step out of the sunlight and into the darkness. Cigarette smoke trickles lazily upwards from a few dozen ashtrays. Greasy faces scrunched with focus float ghostlike in the darkness, seemingly unattached to the bodies that lie behind wide computer monitors. Dig your cash out of your pocket, pick a number. Round the bend and walk down the row of gamers squatting in their chairs, clicking furiously. Welcome to the internet cafe.

That's a world that would be intimately familiar to anyone who spent time in China's tech or gaming world during the early 2000s, when interest in the internet was high but private ownership of devices like mobile phones and computers was relatively low. But rising living standards and safety concerns took their toll. One survey found that 10,000 such businesses closed between 2011 and 2012 alone. By 2013 it seemed clear that internet cafes in China were dying.

Yes, China's internet cafes are growing again.

But a surprising new report from analysis firm Niko Partners suggests that the industry has made a turn. In 2015, China had 146,000 internet cafes with 20 million daily users, and both of those numbers are now increasing year-on-year. Yes, China's internet cafes are growing again.

What's the culprit? In a word: competitive gaming. Niko Partners founder Lisa Cosmas Hanson says that internet cafes are back "because of demand for a social setting to play team-based games such as League of Legends and the desire to watch professional live or televised eSports tournaments alongside other gamers."

The Tencent connection

If team-based multiplayer games and eSports are responsible for the resurgence of internet cafes in China, then it's not unfair to suggest that Tencent has played a big part in bringing those darkened halls back into the gaming mainstream.

According to Niko Partners's report, Tencent accounts for 32 percent of the PC gaming industry's revenue, and a lot of that comes from its most popular games, team-based competitive multiplayer titles like CrossFire and League of Legends. Not coincidentally, League of Legends and CrossFire are also among China's most popular eSports to watch. Tencent is bringing people into the internet cafes in droves to both play its games and to watch video streams of other people playing its games.

Tencent, of course, is not wholly responsible for China's competitive gaming scene. Other multiplayer and competitive titles, including Hearthstone, Dota 2, and CS:GO are also popular in China, and are published by different companies. But at present none of those games really compete with Tencent's for the top title. League of Legends has been China's favorite game for years, and CrossFire has consistently been in the top three. None of those other games rank that high.

A promising future?

Internet cafe owners have a lot to thank Tencent for right now. But in the long term, they're likely to owe their success to a whole other industry: VR. Earlier this year I wrote that arcades and internet cafes were likely to make a comeback in Asia, as gamers will want to get in on high-end virtual reality experiences without paying the heavy up-front costs required to buy a system like the HTC Vive. Niko Partners' report echoes this, suggesting that VR and AR will become a growth driver for internet cafes in China beginning in 2017 or 2018.

Mobile gaming is growing in China, but internet cafes apparently needn't worry, because PC gaming is growing too. Niko Partners's report says that the market will grow by US$5 billion over the five years between 2015 and 2020, reaching US$20 billion in total value by the end of this decade.

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China's internet cafes are coming back, thanks in large part to Tencent

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Step out of the sunlight and into the darkness. Cigarette smoke trickles lazily upwards from a few dozen ashtrays. Greasy faces scrunched with focus float ghostlike in the darkness, seemingly unattached to the bodies that lie behind wide computer monitors. Dig your cash out of your pocket, pick a number.

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A dying trade that is replaced by our smartphone era.

When was the last time you visited an Internet café? My last visit was nearly five years ago during my secondary school days, where they were always crowded with young gamers like me. However, the landscape feels very different today.

Feeling curious, I looked up the number of existing internet cafes across Singapore recently. Out of 20 listed cafés, only 11 are up and running. Are we about to witness the end of an era?

Internet cafés in Singapore have been around for nearly one and a half decades, providing customers computers to surf the Internet, check their emails, and even play online games. What happens when services like these become easily accessible through our mobile phones? Their business declines.

I talked to a few Internet café owners to find out how they are surviving in this era.

One such café is the S.S Internet Centre at Lucky Plaza, run by Michael Selva, 48. The quiet Internet café, which has been running for 13 years, also provides printing services for the Filipino workers who frequent the mall.

"Business hasn't been too good since smartphones became so popular among Singaporeans. Four years ago, we could easily earn $500 on weekdays, and $1,500 on weekends. Today, we only get $200 to $300 per day from Monday to Friday, and $500 to $800 on weekends. That tells a lot about our current situation," said the 48-year-old owner.

When asked about the declining number of Internet cafés over the years, Michael was honest about their struggles to cover the mammoth rental fees.

He added: "The rental fees here costs $6,000, so we're in a tight situation. In 2003, it was normal to get a profit of $10,000. It's impossible to reach those margins today. I used to run another café in Bugis+ just last year, but I was forced to close it down after three months. I'm still surviving because I'm running another transportation business outside this café."

INTERNET CAFÉS ARE ON THE DECLINE, THANKS TO SMARTPHONES.

How about the droves of students that used to visit these cafés, then?

19-year-old Singapore Polytechnic student Jack Yeo who happened to be nearby the café, finds it pointless to go to Internet café, as he feels that smartphones can accomplish the same thing.

"Internet cafés are close to becoming irrelevant, especially when I can just complete all my tasks with my smartphone or at home. I used to frequent them when I didn't have a smartphone, but not anymore. Plus, I'd have to pay money just to do those tasks in cafés too," he said.

However, not all Internet cafés are closing down. Some popular ones like JCube in Dhoby Ghaut rebranded themselves to focus on entertainment in a bid to attract its customers.

ONLY GAMING CAFÉS LIKE JCUBE ARE SURVIVING TODAY.

"It's been difficult because the demand for gaming has declined, but we tried to find ways to continue to stay relevant and attract customers. Currently, we added two game stations so that we have a wider variety of gaming services. This has helped us a lot," said Yap Jing Yang, director of J-Cube.

These "revamped" Internet cafés, or gaming cafés rather, also offers customers an immersive and interactive gaming experience-something mobile devices cannot provide for gamers in the comfort of their own homes.

This is echoed by 20-year-old Ngee Ann Polytechnic student Gan Kai Ler, who is an avid gamer himself.

"Just a few years ago when cloud gaming systems such as Steam haven't been fully established, the only way people could play certain games are to buy them. People who are unwilling to pay for these games would come to the LAN shops to play them. Many prefer to come in groups to Internet cafés for the atmosphere and the camaraderie, rather than being isolated in their own homes," explained Kai Ler.

GAMING STATIONS ALSO ADD A NEW DIMENSION TO INTERNET CAFÉS.

The fact that many Internet cafés are slowly closing shop due to smartphones and technology advancements over the last two decades, perhaps gaming cafés need to redefine themselves once again to cater to an ever changing society's demands.

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A dying trade that is replaced by our smartphone era. When was the last time you visited an Internet café? My last visit was nearly five years ago during my secondary school days, where they were always crowded with young gamers like me. However, the landscape feels very different today.

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How have external factors influenced the success of internet cafes?

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How have external factors influenced the success of internet cafes?

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How effective might a 'think locally, grow globally' strategy be to a fast food MNC?

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How effective might a 'think locally, grow globally' strategy be to a fast food MNC?

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What are the possible impacts of fast food MNCs on a host nation?

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What are the possible impacts of fast food MNCs on a host nation?

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What factors have contributed to the growth of globalisation? 

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What factors have contributed to the growth of globalisation? 