DreamHack is an ESL Gaming brand specializing in

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

tournaments and other

gaming convention A gaming convention is a gathering centered on role-playing games, collectible card games, miniatures wargames, board games, video games, or other types of games. These conventions are typically two or three days long, and often held at either a u ...

s. It is recognized by the

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

and Twin Galaxies as being the world's largest LAN party and

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

festival with the world's fastest Internet connection and the most generated traffic. (The Internet connection record was beaten in 2012 by the world's second-largest computer festival, The Gathering in Norway.) It usually holds its events in Western Europe and

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Events summary

DreamHack's events include local area network gatherings with live concerts and competitions in digital art and

. The first event was held in Malung,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The company has held several gaming events throughout Europe, in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and Jönköping, Sweden, Tours, France, Bucharest and Cluj, Romania, Valencia and Seville, Spain, London, England and Leipzig, Germany. In May 2016, it held its first North American event in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, Texas. In August 2016, it held its first Canada event in Montreal, Quebec. Winter events consistently have about 10% more visitors than summer events. Attendees range from

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students to senior citizens. The average age is 16–17. The event has five major components: DreamHack events are arranged with the help of about 800

volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

, set up in "Crew Teams", who work in shifts to provide around-the-clock services for visitors. A support crew has a helpdesk where participants can address technical problems. The festival also relies on local police and

security officers A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...

who patrol the area.

History

Dreamhack began as a small gathering of schoolmates and friends in the basement of an elementary school in Malung, Sweden, in the early 1990s. In 1994, it was moved to the school

cafeteria A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school ...

and became one of the larger regional demo tech and gaming events at the time. This event was also the first to be called DreamHack. In 1997, the event took place at Arena Kupolen in

Borlänge Borlänge is a locality in Dalarna County, Sweden with 44,898 inhabitants as of 2020. It is the seat of the Borlänge Municipality with a total population of 51,604 inhabitants as of 2017. History Originally Borlänge was the name of a tin ...

and became the largest LAN party of Sweden and the third largest party in Scandinavia at the time. Furthermore, DreamHack 2001 and the upcoming events were held at the

Elmia Elmia Exhibition and Convention Centre is a trade fair in Jönköping, Sweden. The building was built in 1961 for agriculture trade fairs. Later it was expanded to also hold other trade fairs like boat and auto shows. The building has 34,000 squa ...

exhibition centre in Jönköping, where it has been since. In 2002, DreamHack had events twice a year. Initially, DreamHack Summer in June was focused on computer games, and DreamHack Winter was more focused on computer program demos and was held during the last weekend of November. Today, the focus of summer and winter is same. In 2011, DreamHack AB went through a corporate reform, renewing the company administration. DreamHack winter 2011 hosted League of Legends season 1 World Championship. The next year's League of Legends World Championship was held independently. It was announced on November 15, 2012, that DreamHack would be partnering with Major League Gaming (MLG) and Electronic Sports League (ESL) to help facilitate the growth and development of the North American and European

scene. These partnerships included universal rankings, unified competition structures, and more. In 2013, DreamHack AB grew into a corporation. Later they added a third event during the late summer in Stockholm. It was hosted at Globe Arenas in 2014. In November 2015, Modern Times Group bought DreamHack for 244 million

Swedish krona The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it ...

. In 2020, on the 30th of September, ESL announced that it had merged with DreamHack. The two companies are functioning as one, but the two brands are operated separately.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dreamhack Modern Times Group 1990s establishments in Sweden