Oomba, Inc has announced that it has finalised the acquisition of the US location-based entertainment centres company, GameWorks. With this merger, the company plans to bring eSports stadium facilities to existing locations, employ Oomba tournament management software and aggressively expand with further GameWorks facilities and virtual reality (VR) installations.
Set to be known as Oomba GameWorks, the company will continue its recent expansion into eSports which began with the addition of eSports arenas in the Seattle, Las Vegas, and Denver, by upgrading its remaining locations. This plan is part of a larger strategy to aggressively grow the total number of GameWorks locations and invite professional eSports teams to become the exclusive home teams of each store, thereby making Oomba GameWorks the first and largest chain of eSports stadiums across the United States.
Oomba CEO, Michael Williams stated, “GameWorks is the perfect venue for our vision of eSports Stadiums, VR experiences and hosting ‘game night’ at GameWorks. We plan to transform GameWorks into the experiential anchor for AAA locations all across America and beyond.”
Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, Oomba is purchasing the assets of GameWorks Entertainment LLC, and merging the combined company at an agreed enterprise value of $60,000,000 USD. GameWorks management will stay aboard and the combined companies will operate as Oomba GameWorks.
Greg Stevens, GameWorks CEO, commented, “We are thrilled to be a part of the Oomba organization. Mike’s exciting vision sets a new course for the location based entertainment business and we can’t wait to bring it to life!”
It’s expected that the eSports Economy will grow to $696 million in 2017, a year-on-year growth of 41.3%. It is further speculated that brand investment will double by 2020, pushing the total market to $1.5 billion. As eSports is becoming engrained in the DNA of successful competitive videogames, publishers are actively looking to grow their franchises as spectator sports with the aim to engage their current fans, and reach new ones. The Oomba GameWorks enterprise plans to serve exactly this, including bringing VR experiences to many of its centres, and VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest progress.
via Mint VR