DreamHack, a gaming and esports community that has been around for the past quarter-century, announced via Twitter that the highly anticipated2020 DreamHack Festivalswill be postponed to 2021.
Last year, the 2019 DreamHack festival tour consisted of 11 game-filled festivals spread out over eight countries and three continents. In January of 2020, DreamHack was planning conventions in Leipzig, Anaheim, Dallas, Valencia, Montreal, Rotterdam, Hyderabad, Atlanta, and Sevilla. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. Ticket holders for all the 2020 events can expect a refund shortly.
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DreamHack started as a LAN party in 1994, and the following years saw explosive growth in both the gaming and esports industries, bringing the gaming community along for the ride. Since then DreamHack has taken on the role of “building the world’s largest digital lifestyle festival.” It even got so big thatNevada was willing to take bets for DreamHack’s esports events.
The fact that DreamHack has had to change its plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic is unfortunate, but not surprising. Many big gaming conventions and events, including The Big HouseSuper Smash Bros.Tournament, theAnnual Yokohama Pikachu Outbreak, PAX 2020, andBlizzcon 2020 were canceled this yeardue to people’s concern about contracting the Coronavirus.
Perhaps this is an opportunity for DreamHack to take a deep breath and reassess how its brand will reach interested gamers and bring them together during these troubled times. A lot of gaming events this year have been retooled as streaming events.QuakeCon, for example, became QuakeCon At Home. Still, retooling takes time and effort, and DreamHack may have decided to postpone the events rather than reinvent them for just that reason.
Whatever DreamHack has planned for next year, its fans will be standing by with controllers in hand, ready to jump back in when it’s safe.
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