“DreamHack Beyond” to be All-Digital, Interactive Experience
Week-Long Festival to Include Tournaments, Digital LAN Party,
Streaming Tournament, Cosplay Competitions, Panels, Speedrunning,
Livestreamed Music and Screenings, Expo, Game Demos and More
STOCKHOLM/COLOGNE/NEW YORK — DreamHack, the immersive, gaming lifestyle experience where the gaming community comes to life, will launch the all-digital, at-home, interactive experience DreamHack Beyond, the new hybrid festival and online multiplayer game, on Saturday, July 24, continuing through Saturday, July 31, 2021. The week-long event will feature themed worlds, 20+ festival halls, game demos, hourly tournaments (including Hearthstone and Rocket League), the first DreamHack Battle of the Bands, cosplay competitions, panels, screenings, speedrunning, tabletop competitions and more. DreamHack Beyond is free, and registration is available at dreamhack.com/beyond.
“DreamHack Beyond is part of evolving DreamHack into a year-round gaming lifestyle brand for the community. What’s unique with this festival is we have created a hybrid game that also contains beloved, traditional festival elements our community loves,” said Justin Burnham, Vice President, Creative, DreamHack. “The narrative of the game centers around a giant titan in a fantasy world who trips, bumps his head and falls into a coma as a ‘sleeper’ in an alternative reality. Along comes a community who, together, curate the world of which he dreams by spreading joy, love, good times, and celebrations all week long until the giant finally awakens. This is DreamHack Beyond.”
“The goal for all of us at DreamHack is to provide great experiences for our fans, which have traditionally thrived by bringing communities together for these shared and beloved festivals all around the globe,” said Marcus Lindmark, President DreamHack, SVP Project and Event Operations at ESL Gaming. “DreamHack Beyond was created to both complement and showcase the best of DreamHack in a fresh, new way because we are more than an event — DreamHack creates an arena where you can come to connect, explore, win, play a part, and be yourself through a gaming lifestyle experience.”
DreamHack is collaborating with award-winning Super Crowd Entertainment for DreamHack Beyond to create this hybrid between reality and fantasy. Offering the most advanced online event frame available anywhere, the browser-based, multiplayer approach is unique but also user-friendly when navigating this digital experience. With proprietary Super Crowd X5 framework, the state-of-the-art game technology offers a booth editor for exhibitors, an in-game chat system, and full streaming and online product integration.
DREAMHACK BEYOND FESTIVAL CONTENT*
TOURNAMENTS (see previous announcement here)
Stream Beyond Invitationals
Complete information is available at dreamhack.com/beyond. Invitationals include:
- Fall Guys Invite-Only tournament | Prize Pool: $10,000+
- Call Of Duty Invite-Only tournament | Prize Pool: $10,000+
- Monster Energy Apex Legends Invite-Only tournament
- EU Prize Pool: $10,000 | NA Prize Pool: $10,000
- Worms Rumble Invite-Only tournament | Prize Pool: $2,500
- Magic: The Gathering Online Invite-Only tournament | Prize Pool: $2,500
Rocket League Boost Cups
- European Server Tournaments (Open to all regions, played on EU servers)
1v1 | July 25 | $2000 - 2v2 | July 23 | $4000
- 3v3 | July 30 | $7500
- Freestyle | July 28; Finals July 31 | $1000
U.S. East Server Tournaments (Open to all regions, played on US East servers)
- 1v1 | July 29 | $2000
- 2v2 | July 24 | $4000
- 3v3 | July 31 | $7500
- Freestyle | July 26; Finals July 31| $1000
Hearthstone Three-Headed Dragon Challenge
DreamHack has always had a history of the massive Hearthstone Swiss tournaments featuring the Last Hero Standing format. Naturally, that legacy will return for the inaugural DreamHack Beyond event. Everyone can play regardless of whether you are based in Europe, the Americas or Asia. Each tournament has a patronage of one of the Dragon Aspects — creating the first-ever Three-Headed Dragon Challenge. Additional information is available at dreamhack.com/beyond/hearthstone.
FGC’s Community Clash Tournaments
Continuing on the community success of FGC’s Community Clash tournaments, DreamHack Beyond will include free-to-enter tournaments streamed live on twitch.tv/dreamhackfighters, including:
- Guilty Gear -Strive- | July 24 | $2500
- Skullgirls 2nd Encore | July 25 | $1000
- Power Rangers Battle For The Grid League Tournament | July 25 | $1,000
- Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown | July 27 | $1000
- Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate | July 30 | $1000
- DMC3v3 Killer Instinct Event | July 31
- An invite-only 3v3 tag team event
- 8 teams of 3 (1 captain and two drafted teammates) fight in a high-stakes, single-elimination tournament
- Each player has two lives and can only swap on a loss; the team captain can choose the order in which the players fight
Dreamhack Beyond Community Clash
Grassroots tournaments are at the core of DreamHack’s DNA, so it’s only natural Community Clash has found a home at DreamHack Beyond’s LAN party. With over $30K in cash prizes spread over a dozen games, each day will bring new events. Registration opened on July 3. Signups will take place July 24-31. Additional information is available at dreamhack.com/beyond/clash.
Tournaments will include:
- League of Legends | July 24 | NA, $1,000
- Grifball | July 24 (PlayGrifball.com/DJBluePDX)
- Fall Guys | July 24-31
- Among Us | July 24-31
- Fortnite, Rainbow 6 and Warzone | July 24-31
- Daily Leaderboards tracked by Tracker Network
- PUBG Mobile | July 24-31
- Challenges with in-Beyond rewards by blink.gg
- Heroes of the Storm | July 24-31 | $1,000
- Age of Empires II | July 24-31 | $1,000
- Spain Fortnite Tournament Invitational | July 27 | 6pm CET
- 80 of Spain’s best talents will compete with Pol Dominguez “Suja” as ambassador
- Valorant | July 29-31| EU $2500 / NA $2,500
- Knockout City | July 30 | 3v3
- Teamfight Tactics | July 29-30 | $2,500
Student Tournaments
There will be plenty of high school and collegiate matches to watch. At the Collegiate Star League booth, visitors can learn how to compete in the Collegiate Valorant Open.
- July 24 | High School Tournaments
- Rocket League
- League of Legends
- July 25-28, 31 | Collegiate League of Legends Invitationals
- July 25-30 | Collegiate Valorant open
Streaming Tournament
Visit the streamers who will be joining DreamHack Beyond at the Stream Studio. Esports and content partners for DreamHack Stream Beyond will be in a premiere area to present their favorite streamers playing along with daily tournaments.
Speedrunning
In collaboration with Warp World, DreamHack Beyond will bring fans it’s first-ever Speedrun series. DreamHack 101 will introduce how to speedrun — with our partners Global Speedrunning Association (GSA), St. Jude, Warp World — and walk you through how to start your speedrunning career with some of the best in the business. Complete schedule here.
Tabletop
Showcase your tabletop game with players who love anything from DND and Magic, to Scythe and Settlers of Catan. DreamHack Beyond Tabletop gaming partners will include: Catan, CMON Games, Confident Games, Fantasy Flight Games, HeidelBar, Helvetiq, Plaid Hat Games, LimitedRunGames, Repos Production, Z-Man Games, Orca Con, and more. Details are here.
Game Pitch
Put your skills to the test by pitching your game idea to a panel of judges for a chance to win. Game Pitch finalists will be selected on July 15 by Nordic Game Community — they battle it out to see who wins the $2,500 prize pool and the coveted top spot in the Nordic game conferences finals.
ENTERTAINMENT (see previous announcement here)
Music
DreamHack Battle of the Bands Finals (Live Show)
July 30 | 6pm PT / 9pm ET
The inaugural DreamHack Battle of the Bands will feature eight finalists from the genres of metal, punk, grunge, class and hard rock. Finalists and their first entry song can be heard here. They are:
The judging panel will consist of :
- Guitarist Ryan Sitkowski from Motionless in White
- Drummer Alex Bent from Trivium
- Lead singer Elijah Witt from Cane Hill
The top four bands will walk away with prize money, but first place will earn the $1000 grand prize and an opening slot at one of DreamHack’s music concerts at a future, in-person (physical) DreamHack event. Past DreamHack concerts have featured renowned rock and metal bands such as Trivium, Halestorm, Cane Hill, Amaranthe and more.
Livestreamed Music Performances
July 29 | 7pm PT / 10pm ET on Twitch
Known for their work on video games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, League of Legends, and Rocket League, Hyper Potions joins the world of the nostalgic retro video game era with modern day bass and beats. Spotify | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram
July 30 | 3pm PT / 6pm ET on Twitch
Shapes is no stranger to anyone who’s into their UK bass music. Armed with exclusive tunes and bass weapons his quick-fire mixing, tricks and double drops mixed live over 4 decks will bring the energy to any venue. Spotify | Instagram
July 31 | 5pm PT / 8pm ET on Twitch
Qlank is an L.A.-based and Detroit-bred house artist with his own unique but cohesive style combining bass heavy sounds and traditional house elements. Spotify | Twitter | FaceBook | Instagram
Freestyle Spanish Rap Competition with Urban Roosters
Final — July 28 | 6pm CET
Participate in a Freestyle Rap competition hosted by Urban Roosters, open to anyone who speaks Spanish. The judges panel will consist of three of the best Spanish freestylers: Elekipo, Tirpa and Blon. The judges will choose the best 16 freestylers for a live competition at the Main Stage of the Spanish Hall. Additional details and signups are available here.
Cosplay
DreamHack Beyond will feature two different kinds of Cosplay Competitions focused on live transformation, design skills, and pure cosplay crafting.
- July 31 | 2pm ET | $500
Streamers will be given a genre/game/character category and have that time to body paint, raid their closets, and break out the cardboard! Watch the competition live on the DreamHack Twitch channel.
DreamHack Beyond Iconic Cosplay
- July 22 | Finalists chosen
- July 29 | 1pm PT | Live Finals on Twitch
Participants from all over the world may submit two videos: one showcasing your creation; and one presenting your cosplay and how it was built.
Panels
- Panels will run daily on twitch.tv/dreamhack and twitch.tv/dreamhackbeyond.
- Full schedule of panels is available at dreamhack.com/beyond/panels.
Screenings
Film screenings will available during DreamHack Beyond, including:
- July 30 | 7pm ET
- Titmouse 5-Second Short Showcase presents the “Best of 5 Second Day” on Twitch.
Additional Screening partners will be featured in the Expo, including:
- Crunchyroll, the world’s largest collection of anime
- Hi-YAH!, your new favorite martial arts and Asian action movie channel
- Shudder, streaming the largest selection of uncut, ad-free horrors, thrillers, and suspense
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
Digital “Lan” Party
At DreamHack Beyond,the first ever digital B@YOC WAN PARTY will take place in the Ultra Dome. Inside the Ultra Dome, participants will find activities familiar to any DreamHack experience, including setting up your PC, entering your in the PC Championship, competing in Community Clash tournaments, and more zany activities the NIMDAs have created. With only 1000 seats available, tickets will be distributed via a lottery-style distribution system. The final ticket distribution will take place on July 22 — enter the ticket sweepstakes here.
Expo
In the digital DreamHack Expo Hall, exhibitors will digitally present the world’s newest hardware and software, games, gadgets, gaming gear and swag. They also host activities such as game demos, giveaways, contests and more.
In addition to official partners — U.S. Air Force, Intel, BirdieBox and Monster Energy — are some of the industry’s top publishers and developers, such as: Rare, Warner Games, Bandai Namco, Electronic Arts, NCSOFT, Prime Matter, 505 Games, Devolver Digital, Team17, and more.
FreePlay
Find your next free game when you visit the digital DreamHack Beyond FreePlay. Visitors can also find servers for some of the hottest games active during the festival. Game partners include: Tripwire, Simutronics, Curve Digital, Offworld Industries, Black Lotus Digital and Fatshark.
Game servers powered by Nitrado include: Valheim, Rust, Ark, The Forest, Factorio, Minecraft, Terraria and more.
Indie Playground
At the digital Indie Playground, indie game developers will preview upcoming games, trailers, and demos through content partner booths, individual custom game booths, curated booths by game type, the Steam event, and music used on the Main Stage stream.
Content partners from around the world have gathered the best upcoming games of their region while curated booths have assembled a sampling of adventure, strategy, horror, casual, humor, simulation, RPG, multiplayer, and action games for attendees to discover with more than 200 games featured.
Content partners presenting games include: GameJolt, Indie Arena Booth, Digital Dragons, DevGAMM, Sweden Games Arena, BitSummit, Brazil’s Independent Games Festival, and MegaMigs.
Student Game Showcase
Some of the best student-made games were submitted and narrowed to the top five. See these amazingly talented students and the games they have created, including: Discarded, Tekling 2: Overdrive, There You Are and Larger Than Light.
*All content is subject to change
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While DreamHack started as a gathering of friends and their computers in a school cafeteria — with no online access — it has grown into a beacon of internet culture and a gathering place for gamers worldwide. DreamHack had its last in-person festival prior to the pandemic — February 2020 at DreamHack Anaheim. The next scheduled in-person events are DreamHack Atlanta November 12-14, 2021, and DreamHack Winter November 26-28, 2021.
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Media Assets available HERE
In-Game Footage available HERE
Full Trailer available HERE
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ABOUT DREAMHACK
DreamHack is an immersive, gaming lifestyle experience where the community comes to life. Millions of fans tune in to DreamHack broadcasts each year, and the 24 hour-a-day festival weekends feature everything gaming under one roof. Attendees experience professional esports tournaments, amateur and varsity gaming tournaments, world-famous bring-your-own-computer (BYOC) LAN party, cosplay championship, panels, art, activities, expo, screenings, live music and more. In 2020, DreamHack merged with ESL to create ESL Gaming, the world’s largest esports and gaming lifestyle company. The two organizations have been shaping the industry and leading esports and gaming innovation across the most popular video games with numerous online and offline esports competitions and festivals.
ESL Gaming is part of MTG, the leading international digital entertainment group. More information is available at dreamhack.com and eslfaceitgroup.com.
# # #
DreamHack / ESL Gaming media contacts:
Per Sjölin, ESL Gaming
+46 730 25 31 99 | p.sjolin@eslgaming.com
Isabel Krause, ESL Gaming
+49 1723 176537 | i.krause@eslgaming.com
Melissa A.E. Sanders, Tadpole Communications
+1.404.909.6726 | Melissa@TadpoleComm.net
David Gardner, Tadpole Communications
+1.310.291.1156 | david@tadpolecomm.net