Esports company to relocate its Hampton Roads venue

Published November 13, 2019 by Robert Powell, III

San Francisco-based GameWorks Inc. plans to move its Chesapeake esports venue to downtown Norfolk's MacArthur Center mall.

The 19,000-square-foot Norfolk site is expected to open next spring at the 1 million-square-foot mall.

The company said its 50 employees at Chesapeake’s Greenbrier Mall will have the opportunity to relocate to the MacArthur Center site, which will employ about 60 people.

GameWorks now operates seven locations across the country. In addition to Chesapeake, the other sites are in Denver, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Chicago and Seattle.

The company is scheduled to open a Silicon Valley site early next year.

Each GameWorks site has an esports lounge is equipped with 20 to 40 computers and a library of about 100 popular video games.

GameWorks also hosts esports tournaments and events, which attract thousands of participants and spectators.

Each location also features a restaurant, called The Works Kitchen at GameWorks.

MacArthur Center, managed by Starwood Retail Partners, has more than 120 stores and restaurants.