Those of us lucky enough to have a GameWorks Arcade in a mall near us have reason to rejoice! Oomba, an online tournament management system, acquired the arcade chain in 2011 and has big plans to transform the venues into miniature esports arenas of their own.

Oomba chief executive Michael Williams sees potential beyond esports areas and wants to use the locations for VR stations along with LAN parties as well. The Las Vegas location already got a taste of LAN parties with the introduction of its own LAN room with the Seattle and Denver facilities acting as a “local attraction” for esports.

On top of their plans to revamp the existing locations, Oomba is reportedly also planning to introduce the venues into new regions, presumably of the US.

“We plan to transform GameWorks into the experiential anchor for triple-A locations all across America and beyond,” Williams stated.

Edmund Har, Chief Financial Officer of Oomba, said the following about the team’s plans:

“The financial strength and vision of Oomba combined with the operating strength and team at GameWorks will revolutionize location based entertainment. We will continue to

build on the positive historical performance of these stores while aggressively expanding into markets we are excited to enter”.

GameWorks has been mostly out of the action since 2001 when founding company DreamWorks sold its half of the company, with Sega owning the other half. The arcade venue filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and again in 2010 before Sega sold off their half to a group of investors in 2011.

Esports Insider says: It’s good to see that the once-bustling arcades of the 90s are getting some much needed attention. Not only that, but this initiative will also make esports tournaments more local and in turn attract a number of different crowds to the growing competitive gaming industry.