Although they’ve had other homes in the past, Level|Up Series’ weekly events have become synonymous with Southern California’s Super Arcade ever since they moved to the venue in late 2011. Owned and operated by fighting game community veteran Mike Watson, the game center is one of the few remaining arcades left in the United States, and recently found additional funding for their much-needed remodeling efforts thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign.
Apart from providing locals a place to congregate and play their favorite games, Super Arcade has also given back to the community through charity events for the families of Nelson “Remix” Reyes, Patrick Collins, and, more recently, Terrance “PushaTee88″ Moore.
That’s why when it was announced last week that the two entities had parted ways, many were confused. As arguably two of the most important pillars in the SoCal scene, if not the entire community, the split seemed odd to those looking in from the outside. Level|Up president Alex Valle, himself a longtime competitor with a storied history, assured everyone publicly that the decision was both mutual and amicable, but many were still looking for more details.
Early this morning, Level|Up Series went live with their official word on the matter, lending some more insight on the background of the decisions. Despite rumors to the contrary, no amount of pressure from outside entities went into this decision. After heightened emotions caused some of Watson’s frustrations to rise to the surface, he spoke with the Level|Up crew about his desire to return to, as they put it, the “old way” of doing things. As such, their parting will give Watson the freedom he needs to push his business in the direction he feels is best.
We reached out to Watson himself for a comment regarding this development, and he also stressed the importance of letting people know that this split was entirely mutual. “When you have two entities that strive to better themselves, there is always a chance that those two groups will seek growth in different directions,” he explained. “This just happens to be the case where Level|Up wanted to continue growing towards becoming a larger production and Super Arcade wanted to focus more on improving the current fighting game scene.”
“This was strictly a business decision that allows both of us to be ourselves and have no restriction. We have both grown together to get to this point and we will both continue to grow without each other.”
Watson also mentioned that, although they won’t be working together on a regular basis, they will still partner up in the future as the situation calls for it.
As of now, it’s unclear where this new path will lead Super Arcade. Tonight will see the venue being a brand new weekly tournament series to fill the absence left by Wednesday Night Fights, held entirely on consoles instead of the PC standard Level|Up recently adopted. Watson plans to hold, essentially, the same events, so players in the area needn’t worry that they won’t have a place to compete due to his separation from Level|Up.
All future events at Super Arcade will be broadcast through their new dedicated channel. Shoryuken will continue to give them the same coverage afforded to the Level|Up Series events, so be sure to tune in.
Source: Level|Up Series
