BayAnime.com

According to this article on Gamespot, Sony has confirmed the closure of their one and only Playstation store at the Metreon! Ever since I moved to San Francisco (5 years ago!) the Playstation store has been one of few places that I always feel compelled to check out whenever I’m in the area, and it’s definitely the best place to kill time while waiting for a movie to start. Sony Style will also be leaving the Metreon when its lease expires on March 31st. The Playstation store will close sometime this summer.

There’s no news yet about what will be taking their place, but the Metreon is already looking pretty empty these days. I’m betting that the whole complex will eventually just become more of an extension to the Westfield Mall (who already owns the building anyway), the food court will expand with some proper restaurants, and it will wind up as just another yuppie plaza in a fancy building…

With the old arcade at the Metreon long gone and now the PlayStation store closing, it seems that support for public gathering places for gamers is dwindling to nothing. I guess everything’s going the way of the private console at home, and now your only option to challenge unknown opponents is virtually via online gameplay. Personally I miss those days of putting up your coin to get next in line!