There is an arcade in The Last of Us Part II in which Ellie fights a bloated man. It is a tense encounter, with the rowdy avenger who fights the zombie all by himself. The setting for the Battle of Gaming Ruins is apparently based on a real location in Seattle. Now the real game arcade GameWorks Seattle will reportedly close before the start of the new year.
The closure was first reported by GamesRadar along with several Twitter users in the game industry saying GameWorks shutdown is imminent. Though they don’t say when several tweets from user recommend The company will close its Seattle site on December 23rd. Reports have also cited liquidation, supposedly due to financial disputes and debt payments, although the pandemic likely didn’t help.
A supervisor from the Las Vegas location confirmed Kotaku that the Seattle spot is closing its store and that GameWorks as a company will be closing, even though they couldn’t say exactly when.
The company-wide shutdown was also rolled into one tweet from Get in the car, loser! Composer Christa Lee. GameWorks has a long history of mismanagement, as described in a long November 2020 report by The edge.
In a Twitter message to Kotaku, Lee said that she is “helping the Video Game History Foundation preserve what we can of this place.” The manager who spoke to Lee reportedly said the Seattle location “could be managed by the landlord if interested,” but it’s unclear whether that will happen. Lee poured salt on a fresh wound and said the employees at the Seattle site were “only” [given] one week in advance ”by GameWorks’ last day.
GameWorks has not yet commented publicly on these closings. Kotaku emailed GameWorks for further comments and called multiple locations in addition to the Las Vegas arcade.
Founded in 1996 as a joint venture between DreamWorks, Sega and Universal Studios, GameWorks served as a hub for video games and entertainment. It was like a proto-Barcade before the chain existed. It was a major esports goal since then one of the few spots haunted the fighting game community. Housing new and old arcade cabinets and GameWorks makeshift formwork is another reason conservation is important.
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