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We went to DreamHack Hannover and may confidently say that large gaming occasions in Germany are again and higher than ever.
Please enable me to be self-indulgent with this one on a matter that is near my coronary heart. As somebody who got here up within the numerous gaming and nerd-culture scenes in and round Hannover, Germany it made me very blissful to see these scenes alive and thriving underneath the banner of an official DreamHack occasion.
For those who consider gaming occasions in Germany, the one which’ll all the time come to thoughts is Gamescom. Right here is the place you may discover the most recent bulletins in video games and the occasion was all the time the center little one between the now defunct E3 which is now the Summer season Video games Fest I suppose (thanks, Geoff), and Tokyo Gameshow which focuses extra on the japanese market.
However what in regards to the gaming occasions outdoors of that? Germany continues to be a titan in esports however there’s a lack of open tournaments and grassroots occasions that might give smaller gamers and groups a stage to point out what they’re actually about.
What higher place than Hannover to reignite these passions as soon as once more? In spite of everything Hannover’s now defunct CEBIT, formally the biggest laptop expo on this planet, was as soon as a main vacation spot for opponents from around the globe to point out off their video games and expertise. Enter DreamHack Hannover 2023.
The DreamHack Hannover 2023 Expertise
From the 14th to the seventeenth of December 2023 DreamHack Hannover opened its doorways to over 24.000 gaming fanatics, not dangerous numbers for an occasion that’s solely within the second yr of its lifespan. Programming this yr featured the finals of the (for now) last German ESL Counter-Strike championship in addition to the primary official Escape from Tarkov Enviornment Invitational match.
The primary attraction nevertheless was the LAN get together within the again which featured 11 open tournaments performed by nearly 1000 attendees throughout all of them with their respective finals being performed out on the principle stage.
Visiting the occasion was a bewildering expertise for me, being very out of tune with German gaming tradition I can solely think about that’s what it should’ve been like for my mother and father all these years in the past.
What stunned me and made me very blissful was the quantity of area devoted to artists promoting their wares and unbiased native tabletop creators. And that was the theme I sensed round DreamHack Hannover, there was an effort to characterize native companies, expertise, and creators alongside Escape from Tarkov, large Esport, and TCGs.
If there was one criticism I’d levy towards the occasion, it is that in case you’re there to simply stalk the halls and catch among the dwell programming right here and there there is not a lot to do outdoors of it. Workshops for Cosplayers and Artists, an effort to get non-TTRPG folks into the passion, or only a area to take a seat round and hang around with individuals.
A Look Behind the Scenes and Forward
On Sunday I additionally received to take a seat down and chat with German esports presenter and co-organizer Matthias ‘Knochen’ Remmert in regards to the imaginative and prescient of the occasion and its imminent future. Knochen is a veteran of the scene and similar to me has a keenness for Hannover, relationship again to these halcyon CEBIT days.
Once I requested him in regards to the imaginative and prescient for the occasion, he advised me that there was merely nothing like DreamHack in Germany. Certain there are conventions and LANs and esports however hardly ever something working on that scale underneath the banner of a world pageant. The DreamHack model provided organizer Freaks4U a chance to deliver all their companions collectively for an occasion, not like something Germany has ever seen on that scale.
Within the wake of the German video games trade having a extremely dangerous yr, I additionally requested in the event that they’d take into account letting German studios showcase their video games. Knochen advised me that in the event that they have been to do it, they might be open to anybody who’d wish to be a part of their occasion, they might like to concentrate on the Indies as an alternative of solely platforming large titles that’d draw all the eye.
One other query that was near my coronary heart was in the event that they’d take into account operating open tournaments for Combating Video games corresponding to Tekken, Road Fighter, Responsible Gear, and so forth. He appeared very excited in regards to the prospect of operating correct FGC occasions at their venue and even requested me if knew anybody who’d wish to arrange such a factor. So for my sake, fellow German Combating Sport fanatics, please make it occur.
Lastly, I requested about their aspirations for subsequent yr and Knochen confessed that they have been very proud of how stacked the occasion was this yr and so they hope to deliver youthful audiences into the venue subsequent time.
Resulting from German Regulation, the occasion was off-limits to anybody underneath the age of 16 as a consequence of among the titles being performed on the massive stage. However he advised me that will like to create an area the place mother and father and their kids might discover these hobbies collectively and educate one another on them.
These are fairly wonderful targets to have and I am wanting ahead to checking in with them subsequent yr to see the subsequent step in realizing that imaginative and prescient.
And that is every thing we received on my DreamHack Hannover adventures. For extra on the weekend, try our impressions of Tarkov Enviornment’s Esport Debut in addition to what we discovered from our interview with Tarkov boss Nikita about the way forward for Escape from Tarkov.
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