Dreamhack Dallas 2023 marks the third year of the festival in Dallas, Texas. With that, its growth showcases the city’s deep esports roots. At Dreamhack Dallas 2023, we got the chance to hear a panel that represented Dallas Sports Commission, DreamHack, ESL Impact, and the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM). The panel discussed the importance of esports as a part of Dallas’ push for more sports tourism, the economic impact of Dreamhack on the city, how Dreamhack and ESL are creating pathways for careers in esports, and how IEM as a competition is central to much of this.
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If you’re unfamiliar, Dallas as a city has had an esports presence since the early years of video games. From holding LAN competitions in hotel ballrooms to the advent of Quakecon, competitive gaming has had a home in the Lone Star State for about as long as people have been gaming. When you combine that history with a push from the city to better engage and build its sports profile, it’s a match made in heaven. Monica Paul, Executive Director of the Dallas Sports Commission, opened the panel to discuss the importance that Dreamhack has in the city, both from an economic and community standpoint. The positive impact of Dreamhack Dallas even led to the creation of Dreamhack Day, June 2nd, by the city’s mayor. Paul read out Dallas Mayor, Eric Johnson’s declaration to kick things off:
“Whereas DreamHack brings the gaming community to life at the longest-running gaming lifestyle festival in the world, whereas the 2023 Dreamhack Dallas festival will be the ultimate weekend of gaming with a three-day weekend jam-packed with pro eSports tournaments. Collegiate matches world-famous LAN party, cosplay championship, panels, art activities, expo, live music concerts, and more. Whereas this marks the third visit of the global dream tech festival that takes place in Dallas, helping to submit Dallas as one of the top gaming hubs in the United States. And whereas the festival’s 2023 Season will host 12 events in nine major cities in seven countries around the globe, including Dallas. And whereas DreamHack Dallas continues to provide a substantial impact on direct spending and Dallas’s tourism industry, with more than 35,000 visitors, contributing over 40 million in direct spending to the Dallas economy. Therefore, I, Eric Johnson, Mayor of the City of Dallas, proclaim Friday, June 2, 2023, as Dreamhack Day in Dallas, Texas.”
The truth is that as much as Dreamhack is an international event, Dreamhack Dallas is quintessentially Texan, drawing on the state’s long history of hosting esports events and budding game development programs at universities like SMU Guildhall. Paul explained that the city is committed to investing in gaming as well as a central part of the city’s sports plan, “Esports and gaming continue to be a very significant and important part, especially a very important part of our market, to engaging and growing our sports tourism industry.”
On why Dallas was chosen as a location for the event the past three years, Shahin Zarrabi, VP of Strategy and Growth, ESL FACEIT GROUP/DreamHack explains, “Dallas has a strong legacy of esports. And gaming goes back over 20 years when esports competitions were being hosted in ballrooms at hotels all over the city with this competition called the cyber professional league, and then CPL, which we can find photos of—Some of the people that competed there actually work at ESL FaceIt Group today. So it’s fun to kind of look back at those photos. Dallas is just a very strong gaming and eSports city. There are a lot of organizations here. There are a lot of content creators that are huge on Twitch, YouTube, [and] TikTok producing gaming content…Dallas loves us and we love Dallas.”
One of Dreamhack Dallas 2023’s biggest draws is the Intel Extreme Masters tournaments. For the second time, the IEM is taking place at Dreamhack Dallas, and Shaun Clark, Senior Director Game Ecosystems CS: GO, ESL FACEIT Group, explained the importance of the IEM and Dreamhack partnership: “The first thing I think about immediately is that Intel has been with us within the Intel Extreme Master’s program from the very beginning. So we have a relationship with them and building the esports gaming community for over 20 years now.
“The very first time we ever ran was in 2007. And that was it should you describe the very, let’s say, closed-doors-type environment, and then today, fast forward 20 years, we’re still here together, we’re still trying to build and continue to grow the esports space globally. And to be here in Dallas, as you’ll see across the weekend, we’ll have the esports arena filled with fans of all ages from all over the world who will be expected to fill out the [arena] having an amazing time that we’re just honestly very appreciative of and we’re going to focus on the losers to build what we have today.”
But perhaps one of the most important distinctions between Dreamhack compared to other esports events is that it aims to meet gamers in every aspect of how they interact with the gaming industry. “At ESL FaceIt Group of which Dreamhack is a part of, we say that we create worlds beyond gameplay,” said Zarrabi. “Video gaming [is] the largest entertainment industry in the world, bigger live music and movies combined, [gamers] spend only half of their time actually actively playing a game on the other screen at home. The other half is actually spent consuming gaming content in a variety of different ways. And those different ways those different aspects that we tried to bring to life at the impact.”
He continues, “So going down to the show floor, you’ll see everything from Bring Your Own Computer area where people bring their computers and play 24/7. For three days, we’ll see eSports competition eSports competitions for over $930,000 playing here in different competitions. You will see a cosplay championship. When people dress up, they spend weeks developing a costume from a video game that they compete with and try to win our championship. Free play areas where you can try out your games and compete with each other. You can go up on a pyramid and try to be a pro. There’s just so much to do. And we just tried to bring all those different gaming communities in different aspects of gaming to live under one.”
But as with anything in gaming, the question of inclusivity has to come up, particularly when it comes to women being involved. When you look at the rosters of the top teams, it’s hard to see gender diversity, and with organizations like Faze Clan constantly stirring controversy with its misogyny, it’s a valid question. But it’s one that the panel tackles head-on and acknowledges as an issue. Centered around ESL’s #GGForAll inclusivity campaign, the panelists explain the importance of using gaming as an equalizer instead of as a way to discriminate.
Claudia Beaton, VP People & Culture for ESL FACEIT Group, explained the festival’s commitment to inclusivity: “As an organization, we strive to remove barriers for all and especially when it comes to discrimination. For all the women and players…especially now for ESL Impact CSGO, which was our first initiative successful under our GGForAll CSR initiative. It is wonderful to see the growth in the ESL Impact Tournament. It’s great to support women players with a $150,000 cash prize pool each season. And just to be able to watch how we’ve gone from a small group of women’s teams joining us in season one to now having over 14 different teams that are all vying to have their position within the Impact Tournament.
“But of course, this is just the beginning at ESG. We have a very strong CSR initiative called GGForAll, which shares four pillars, namely universal participation and [t] have access to your play, mental health, and well-being, as well as environmental impact and sustainability. Those are the four pillars under GGForAll. ESL Impact driving the first pillar, supporting universal participation, I love opening the door to all the talented women that are playing CSGO that have now been given that opportunity to shine and to win alongside the men. So it’s been wonderful to see him grow.”
Shahidi added, “Gaming can be used as an equalizer, right? It’s waiting for people to get into something that by nature doesn’t try to display who you are in front of the screen, anyone can play. And really, in-game, you can be anyone else, you know, and you’re not judged by how you look like. But of course, that’s not the reality when you bring it to a live experience. There are still challenges with the video game community with esports that we are actively trying to work with and solve the different entities. Like [Claudia] mentioned our GGForAll or ESL Impact.
“For Dreamhack, as a convention-style experience, we try to create an inclusive, accessible experience for people to come and feel welcomed to feel part of something bigger, regardless of who they are. So we tried to work with a lot of different gaming communities, of course, but also with the local communities…and of course, groups that are marginalized in different ways and tried to find ways for them to come to festivals [and make them] able to do that themselves, and also to produce content that interests them and makes them feel like gaming is something for them, and that they can come back here year after year, not just sit at home or like with a visual or in front of the screen. But actually, feel like this is big, this is a worldwide phenomenon that they want to be a part of.”
Dreamhack, with all of its depth of experiences, has the chance to continually meet players where they are, no matter who they are. And while there is something to be said about the “controversies” surrounding some of the teams that play in the tournaments at Dreamhack, initiatives like GGForAll and ESL Impact are attempting to give a tangible solution to the very real problems.
At its core, Dreamhack Dallas 2023 is about providing an experience that engages gamers beyond just playing a game. In that way, it’s creating a vibrant esports ecosystem for Dallas to tap into. With game development studios like Gearbox in the area and a growing investment in tech, it’s a combination that’s fruitful for the people who live here. Texas, for all of its problems, is a diverse state and one that keeps growing.
By investing in a Texas festival, as they did with Austin in the years prior to Dallas, Dreamhack is taking full advantage of our state’s growth. With Dreamhack Dallas, the city is looking to invest more in its youth, embracing sporting events that let’s be honest, many old Cowboys fans just wouldn’t understand —I know my dad doesn’t. By including esports in a larger plan for sporting, Dallas has made a choice to invest in the future, and let’s hope that includes more Dreamhack Dallas events down the line too.
