Friendly Fire Rotterdam opens at Alexandrium

ROTTERDAM, 15 May 2026 – Friendly Fire will open its first Dutch gaming café at Alexandrium Shopping Center on Friday 22 May. The new Rotterdam location brings high-end gaming, tournaments and a social gaming community to Kleine Beer 4, in the former Kapper Alexander unit next to Eazie.

The arrival gives Alexandrium a new entertainment spot aimed at gamers who want to play together in person. Friendly Fire describes itself as an international gaming café franchise where players can compete, improve, meet others and spend time with friends.

Friendly Fire opens in Rotterdam

The Rotterdam location opens on Friday 22 May in Alexandrium Shopping Center. It is the first Friendly Fire branch in the Netherlands, which makes Prins Alexander the starting point for the brand’s Dutch expansion.

The gaming café is located at Kleine Beer 4, outside the main shopping centre, next to Eazie. The space was previously home to Kapper Alexander and covers 206 m².

Gaming café with community focus

Friendly Fire is built around social gaming rather than gaming alone at home. Visitors can play with friends, meet new people, join tournaments and build their skills in a shared space.

The Alexandrium location will offer gaming on PCs, PlayStations and racing simulators. That makes it suitable whether you are the type who studies patch notes like exam material or someone who just wants to lose at FIFA with dignity. Allegedly.

From Fortnite to racing sims

FIFA, Fortnite, League of Legends and Roblox are mentioned as examples of what visitors can expect. The broader idea is to create a place where different gaming styles sit next to each other, from competitive play to casual sessions with friends.

That in-person part is important. Gaming is often social online, but Friendly Fire is leaning into the old internet café feeling, updated with newer hardware, tournaments and a community calendar. Cute nostalgia, but with better chairs, hopefully.

First of many locations

Friendly Fire is already active internationally and is expanding in Europe. For the Netherlands, the company has an ambitious plan to open 25 locations before 2030.

“We are extremely excited to open in Alexandrium Shopping Center and help grow esports and gaming in the area,” says Artem Zhuravlev, CEO Friendly Fire Benelux. “This will be the place where friends can come together and play side by side, just like in the good old internet café days. Above all, we are bringing real connection and social energy back through gaming.”

Alexandrium adds entertainment

Alexandrium is already one of Rotterdam’s largest shopping areas, with the Shopping Center, Megastores and Woonmall clustered around Rotterdam Alexander. The area has more than 200 shops and is directly connected to a major public transport and car-accessible retail hub.

Friendly Fire adds a different reason to visit: not shopping, not furniture hunting, but hanging out and playing games together. For Alexandrium, that helps turn the centre into more of a leisure destination, especially for teenagers, students and young adults in Rotterdam-East.

How to get there

Friendly Fire Rotterdam is located at Kleine Beer 4 in Alexandrium Shopping Center, in the Oosterflank area of Prins Alexander. Rotterdam Alexander station is nearby, with train, metro and bus connections, and Alexandrium is also easy to reach by car from the A20 via exit 16.