149 sleeps to go. As the first DreamHack Melbourne draws ever closer, ESL Australia have today announced further details about the hotly-anticipated event, with the big question on everyone’s minds — when will tickets go on sale? — finally answered.
Set your alarms for 10am AEST this Thursday, April 7.
ESL Australia have today announced that tickets for DreamHack Melbourne — slated for September 2-4 — will go on sale to the public this week.
Adult single-day passes are set at $50, while the arguably most popular option, the 3 Day Festival pass, will be set at a generous $109.
Prior to the general public sale, subscribers to the DreamHack Melbourne newsletter will receive an early invite on Wednesday for a member-only pre-sale.
Also available as an additional bonus is the DreamHack Melbourne Founders Pass. For an extra $50 on top of the Festival Pass, Founders will receive a unique DH Melbourne VFT (Very Fungible Token) in the form of a physical gold-plated pin, shipped in a commemorative box with a personal note from the DreamHack team ahead of the event.
“We’ve had various cracks at the ticketing market at past events like IEM Sydney and the Melbourne Esports Open (MEO),” said ESL Australia Project Manager Brad Baldwin to Snowball Esports.
“For DreamHack, given how it’s a little more similar to MEO as a celebration of gaming as a whole, it’s a little harder to make [ticketing options] as focused.
“What we wanted to achieve with DreamHack was simple. We didn’t want to have 10, 12, 14 different ticket types; more so, something similar to how overseas versions of DreamHack operate with day and festival passes, as well as the BYOC LAN pass.”
The bring-your-own-computer (BYOC) LAN Festival Pass — set at $155 — is for attendees looking to bring along their system and experience an offline gaming experience unlike anything in the Southern Hemisphere.
“[DreamHack] is meant to be a celebration of gaming, it’s meant to be an opportunity for every facet of gaming; whether that be your hardcore esports fan in the arena for the full weekend, or those there for competing in tournaments, cosplay or the expo,” said Baldwin.
We can’t wait to showcase everything DreamHack has to offer to our Australian community – to be able to bring this storied festival to life in Melbourne for the first time later this year is a unique opportunity.
Brad Baldwin, ESL Australia Project Manager
“It’s been a difficult few years for everyone coming through the pandemic and we want to make sure that coming out of it that we’re supporting fans as much as we can in reducing the barriers of entry, whilst also making the event and content offerings achievable.”
Unlike DreamHack sister events across the globe, DH Melbourne will be the first to offer ticketing options for children, as well as allowing kids under six free entry with a paying adult.
“We wanted to speak to the family component of gaming,” said Baldwin.
“We found with MEO that quite a large number of families with younger children were interested, and we feel it made sense to depart from the normal DreamHack ticketing model and actually provide an option for cheaper tickets for children and families.
“We want to make sure that if mum and dad are getting convinced to come down – or even if they’re the ones convincing their children – we want to create opportunities for a family weekend away.”
Pass holders will be able to experience all of the offerings at DreamHack, with the entry ticket granting access not just to the expo floor, but also to the arena esports tournaments set to be showcased at DreamHack Melbourne.
CS:GO headlines the event with ESL Challenger #50, which will see both international and domestic teams compete for a spot at ESL Pro League in Rod Laver Arena across all three days.
In Margaret Court Arena, fans will witness the first major live Halo tournament in Oceania with the Halo Championship Series ANZ Regional, while Sunday will see the conclusion of Split 2 of the LCO, where OCE’s League of Legends Worlds representative will be decided.
“In planning so far, it’s always been a challenge – especially on the competitive esports side of things – to find windows where we can bring content to fans,” explained Baldwin.
“We’re always excited to continue bringing the best domestic competition we have, as we will with League of Legends and Halo.
“But we really wanted to make sure that we had at least one international piece, and we’re excited to bring international CS:GO back to the fans. [CS:GO] fans have been screaming for another event since COVID hit, and whilst this won’t be the exact same experience [as IEM Sydney], we’re confident it’ll be a great weekend for teams and attendees alike.”
BYOC Festival Pass holders will be granted exclusive access to the BYOC LAN centre at Tennis HQ which is set to be open for 24 hours across the weekend — even after DreamHack’s general activities have ceased for the day.
It’s a massive undertaking and, scale-wise, a huge step up from an MEO or IEM Sydney. Ultimately, DreamHack is a culmination of previous gaming and esports events, and as such, brings it’s own set of challenges to the ESL Australia team.
“For me personally the major challenge is ‘where do we fit all this in?’,” said Baldwin.
“Unlike other DreamHack events, which have more of an open floor plan, we’re working with a different layout and with some very iconic arenas.
“Over the next six months I’m sure there will be plenty of challenges to overcome but it’s always easier to overcome them when there’s an excited community out there that are really engaged – be that through buying tickets or just simply spreading the word.”
ESL Australia partnered once more with the Victorian Government and their tourism arm, Visit Victoria, to bring DreamHack down under for 2022. But it’s not a sure bet to stay longer than 2022 just yet, explained Baldwin.
“We’re in discussion with Visit Victoria and the Victorian Government for the future, who are dealing with a massive number of events coming back into the market this year, so to get this first DreamHack across the line after COVID was important.
“It definitely is our objective and in our trajectory that DreamHack will stick around past this year. We’ll be doing our part to make that a reality in regards to securing funding, and hopefully we’re able to get the support from the wider community by showing large interest and attending this year’s event.”
DreamHack Melbourne newsletter subscribers will receive early access to the pre-sale on Wednesday morning — sign up now to get in the line early.
For all others, DreamHack Melbourne tickets go on sale Thursday morning via Ticketek.
