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IndustryToday, DreamHack announced plans to postpone all remaining esports festivals and events in 2020. All esports events planned for 2020 move to 2021 due to COVID-19. Those events include Rotterdam, Hyderabad, Atlanta, Winter, and Madrid festivals, in addition to already postponed events in Dallas, Summer, and Montreal. But the company isn’t leaving the competitive field. Taking the party online, DreamHack will organize and host multiple online tournaments in the following months.
Unfortunately we are postponing the remaining 2020 DreamHack festivals.
DreamHack Rotterdam, Hyderabad, Atlanta, Winter, and Madrid will all be postponed until 2021.
Read more ?https://t.co/uee7HK86kE
— DreamHack (@DreamHack) August 10, 2020
DreamHack Goes Online
The Swedish production company already started with DreamHack Open Fortnite, an online tournament series featuring a $1.75 million prize pool running until January 2021. The company will continue to bring events online with it’s upcoming CS:GO competition, DreamHack Summer starting this August. Additionally, DreamHack Starcraft 2 Masters and Warcraft 3 Open have been moved online.
DreamHack Summer features a $300 thousand prize pool across four regional competitions. Those regions include Europe, North America, Asia, and Oceania. Initially commencing last June 1, Stage 2 starts August 7.
Working together with ESL, they brought DreamHack Starcraft 2 Masters and Warcraft 3 online and have updated the dates to coincide with the ESL Pro Tour. The ESL Pro Tour now consists of three DreamHack Starcraft 2 Masters online tournaments, Summer, Fall, and Winter. The ESL Pro Tour Warcraft 3 follows an identical change with three seasonal competitions. Both series collectively hold a $2.05 million prize pool.
Innovation to Grow in Esports
Although nobody wants to postpone an event, DreamHack’s decision to reschedule was made out of concern, safety, and care. Marcus Lindmark, co-CEO of DreamHack, talks about the hardships the company faced during the pandemic. Walking down an innovative path will help bring esports back on track.
“This has been a very different year for everyone, but we are fully committed to bringing our festivals back in 2021.” said Marcus Lindmark. “DreamHack will continue to follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Public Health Agency of Sweden (Folkhälsomyndigheten), as well as other national health authorities for guidance on resuming our festivals. Until then, we will continue to innovate so we can connect with our fans through great content.”
Additionally, Michael Van Driel, Chief Product Officer at DreamHack, states that the company is focused on bringing the best esports experiences to the masses through online events.
“We at DreamHack stay committed to offering the best esports events for our fans and followers, even if it needs to be in an alternate format for now,” Michael Van Driel stated. “In order to bring these events to our fans, DreamHack’s tournaments will continue to be offered online. It is very important that these tournaments still be played, which provides esports players with great opportunities while also giving viewers entertaining esports to enjoy from all around the world.”
DreamHack from 2020 to 2021
COVID-19 affects the esports industry worldwide. Despite focusing on a digital stage, the company doesn’t go unscathed. As a company whose sole purpose is hosting and organizing events around the world, the pandemic’s impact is tremendous. Although DreamHack had fallen in unpredicted economic devastation, they adapted and rerouted.
Unlike traditional sports, esports builds on a natural double stage of both LAN and online events. The decision to go online and keep the entertainment rolling was smart and intuitive. With many esports event brands struggling, DreamHack found a way to get back up.
Written by Jay Hunter
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