Dreamhack has announced it is now postponing the remaining festivals in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to remain a threat across the world, and so the event organizer has decided to delay them until 2021.
DreamHack Atlanta, and other festivals will no longer run in 2020. (Photo courtesy Adam Antor / DreamHack)
The likes of Dreamhack Rotterdam, Hyderabad, Atlanta, Winter and Madrid will no longer go ahead in 2020. Events such as this just are not possible now given the circumstances of the world and the features they have. All these events were delayed to the end of the year with the belief the pandemic would be over. However, cases across the world are on the rise again. Both Europe and Asia are experiencing a growing surge of cases, while the Americas are still in their first wave of the virus.
Marcus Lindmark, CEO of DreamHack said: “This has been a very different year for everyone, but we are fully committed to bringing our festivals back in 2021. 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.”
However, DreamHack will continue to run their events online. They are currently running the their Open Summer online for CS:GO, including the NLC League of Legends event, and weekly Fortnite competitions. DreamHack is also getting a massive piece of CS:GO action as they become an RMR event provider for the Rio Major in mid-October.
The smaller esport events that once ran in these festivals will move online. The likes of Warcraft 3 and StarCraft 2 have their ESL Pro Tour changed. There are now three Online events taking place in Summer, Fall and Winter for each game.
Finally, the event organizer aims to create a Showdown Fall event for CS:GO. It will feature two regional competitions in Europe and North America. They will be quick three-day tournaments, with double-elimination rules and best of three finals. More news on this will be announced later.
