DreamHack Atlanta Offered Ultimate Weekend Experience with First Full-Scale Gaming Lifestyle Festival in Atlanta Since Before the Pandemic
| PRESS RELEASE SUMMARY – YouTuber Ludwig raised nearly $315,000 for charity while spending 50 hours in a glass box at DreamHack Atlanta across the three-day of the festival. – Dreamhack donated $250,000 worth of tickets to kids and schools to support careers In gaming – On-site gamers were first to experience world exclusive play test of new game ‘Skyscraper’ – DreamHack Open Featuring Fortnite awarded prize pool of $100,000 – DreamHack Starcraft 2 Masters awarded a prize pool $100,000 – Fighting Games awarded $39,000 in prize pool to global competitors – More than 900 players competed in the ‘Magic: The Gathering’ DreamHack U.S. Regional Championship with prize pool of $130,000 – Cosplay Championship awarded $2,500 in prizing; Atlanta-based cosplay guests – Street Dancing Competition awarded $2,500 prize pool – Special guests throughout the festival weekend included T-Pain, DrLupo, Tyler “TeeP” Polchow, Big Cheese, MrSavage, and more PHOTOS – DreamHack Atlanta photos are available HERE. VIDEOS – DreamHack Atlanta videos are HERE |
STOCKHOLM / ATLANTA — DreamHack Atlanta, the three-day, immersive gaming lifestyle festival, has concluded with more than 27,000 in total attendance from 49 states (plus D.C.) and 21 countries over three-day festival weekend, November 18-20, 2022, at the Georgia World Congress Center. The weekend, featuring everything gaming under one roof, marked the first DreamHack festival in Atlanta since the pandemic. The festival kicked off on Thursday at the Atlanta Esports Summit with a Governor Commendation naming the day “DreamHack Day” in the State of Georgia; and a Proclamation from the City naming the day “Gaming and Esports Day” in the City of Atlanta to honor the occasion.
“It was just a tremendous experience to finally be back in Atlanta with a live, in-person festival. You could feel the excitement in the air all weekend,” said Shahin Zarrabi, VP of Strategy & Growth for DreamHack. “Thank you to all the festival visitors for bringing the gaming community to life this weekend. We also want to congratulate everyone who participated in a competition this weekend, whether it was amateur, collegiate or professional; and we want to thank all of our partners for making it possible. DreamHack loves Atlanta and we can’t wait to be back next year.”
Special guests throughout the festival weekend included American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer T-Pain; American streamer and YouTuber DrLupo; Content Creator Tyler “TeeP” Polchow; Creator/entertainer Big Cheese; Fortnite superstar MrSavage; and more.
HIGHLIGHTS
LUDWIG x DREAMHACK
In a “The Truman Show” style format, American content creator/YouTuber Ludwig lived in a locked glass box for 50 straight hours at DreamHack Atlanta. During this time, he raised nearly $315,000 for two charities: Alveus Sanctuary and No Kid Hungry.
MORE THAN $250,000 WORTH OF TICKETS DONATED TO STUDENTS
DreamHack donated over 3500 tickets, worth more than $250,000, to students, youth clubs, school sports coaches and their families so they can learn more about the gaming industry in Georgia and the U.S., and about what career opportunities it offers. Students from over 30 different high schools across Metro Atlanta joined for mornings of career advice and workshop panels on Friday and Saturday all about how to get into the industry and have access all weekend to enjoy the festivities.
WORLD EXCLUSIVE PLAY TEST OF NEW ‘SKYSCRAPER’ GAME
Fans at DreamHack Atlanta were among the first gamers in the world to demo Skyscraper, the new and highly-anticipated battle royale shooter game from Ratatat Studios that launched on Saturday, November 19. The game is still in “Alpha Stage” but was playable on-site exclusively this weekend in advance of its Beta launch. Watch the trailer HERE.
COMPETITION RESULTS
DREAMHACK FEATURING FORTNITE – $100,000 Prize Pool
WINNER: Boltz (See all results HERE)
The DreamHack Featuring Fortnite competition ran all three days of DreamHack Atlanta, beginning on Friday, Nov. 18 and finishing today, Sunday, Nov. 20 on-site in the BYOC LAN area.
DREAMHACK STARCRAFT 2 MASTERS – Over $100,000 prize pool
WINNER: herO
MAGIC: THE GATHERING U.S. REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP – $130,000 Prize Pool
WINNER: Matthew Saypoff from Mono-WhiteHumans (More details HERE)
From top competitors to new and casual players, there was Magic for everyone at DreamHack Atlanta.
A total of $39,000 was awarded in cash prizes for games including: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Guilty Gear Strive, Tekken 7, DNF: Duel, Street Fighter V, and King of Fighter XV.
WINNERS: All details are available HERE
COSPLAY – $2500 Prize Pool
The Cosplay Championship judges were Pumpkin.Pixie.Princess, Sarah Spaceman, and Brown.Suga.Outlaw.
Novice
1st — YubYubCommander, Jester from Critical Role
2nd — Lunadawn Cosplay, Claude Von Riegan from Fire emblem: Three houses
3rd — Invictus_labs, Warhammer Cosplay
Artisan
1st — Shay, Jester from Critical Role
2nd —- Sugarpuns Cosplay, Witch Princess Daisy from Mario
3rd — Phoenix Star, Phoenix star – vtuber model
Expert
1st — SarahShortcake, Mipha from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2nd — Sunlight Cosplay, The Tarnished from Elden Ring
3rd -— SolarWolf Cosplay, Malthael from Diablo 3
Judges Choice (from Voice Actor Damon Mills):
Gigabyte Cosplay with her Madame Leota from the Haunted Mansion
STREET DANCE BATTLE – $2500 Prize Pool
DreamHack Atlanta presented its first-ever Street Dance Battle with the ‘Bring Your Own Shoes’ (BYOS) finale.
Winners
1st — i_am_mercury
2nd — X Glide
3rd — Killa
4th — Odious
DreamHack’s 2023 world tour will be announced on December 9, 2022, on “DreamHack Day” — a commemoration of the festival’s foundation in 1994 and the release of next year’s festival schedule. In 2023, DreamHack will embark on what is the biggest, boldest global tour ever, including the already-announced debut festivals in San Diego, California, USA, and Japan.
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About DreamHack
DreamHack is an immersive, gaming lifestyle experience where the community comes to life. 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. The DreamHack brand is a part of ESL Gaming, the world’s leading esports company.
More information is available at dreamhack.com and about.eslgaming.com.
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DreamHack / ESL Gaming media contacts:
Per Sjölin, ESL Gaming
+46 730 25 31 99 | press@eslgaming.com
Melissa A.E. Sanders, Tadpole Communications
+1.404.909.6726 | Melissa@TadpoleComm.net