DreamHack Stockholm 2024 Brings the Culture Festival Back to Its Roots
In the heart of Sweden’s Stockholmsm?ssan, a sea of hands raises high amid the fog and laser light. Thousands of people are gathered tightly facing a stage, with stragglers running to claim their spot. The DJ’s beat swells hypnotically as the dancers ready their marks. With an explosion of light and plumes of fire, their performance begins, morphing from fluid interpretive-style motions to bombastic break dance track by track.
It feels like something out of the Olympics, if the games took place in an underground Scandinavian rave. Woven into a set break, massive screens begin to play, depicting people across the globe, all connected by shared interests: gaming, cosplay, creation — all the things that DreamHack embodies. The focus shifts to a high tempo remix of Tetris’ “Theme A,” and a wave of nostalgia hits the crowd, although it feels new all the same.
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This is DreamHack Stockholm, and it’s just the beginning.
Organized by the ESL FACEIT Group, DreamHack Stockholm 2024 was held from November 22 – 24 at the Stockholmsm?ssan convention center in Stockholm, Sweden. Despite its 30-year history and origins as a distinctly Swedish event, it’s the first time DreamHack has ever been held in the nation’s capital, and in many ways feels like a natural place to begin the next phase of its cultural evolution.
Rolling Stone had the opportunity to attend the 3-day festival and speak with both the people behind its mission and those who traveled far and wide to experience it in person. Here’s what it was like to attend the first ever DreamHack Stockholm.
A homecoming
For the uninitiated, the first DreamHack experience can be tough to describe. At its core, the festival is a celebration of gaming culture, but that means many things — all of which is represented in some form or another on-site. Often, festivals, specifically anything gaming-related, can be about sheer spectacle and noise. But after quietly trudging through the crunch of snow to first enter the arena, you’d be forgiven for not even knowing that there was a convention going on. Although filled with people, the atrium of the Stockholmsm?ssan remains an ever-serene space. Throughout the weekend some 52 thousand people will flow in and out, yet it never feels hectic or stuffed.
The airy welcome center is beset by glass, filling the area with daylight early on and the warm hues of sunset by mid-afternoon. By night, the internal neon soul of DreamHack takes over, as displays and even colorful cosplay and props light the way through the venue.
Although it now covers everything from esports to tabletop, the roots of DreamHack began with LAN (local area network) meetups. In the early days, back in the Nineties, it served as a community meet up for gamers and game developers looking to connect with their own PCs all in one place. It’s fitting then, that the first area to see before even entering the main hall is a double wide door leading directly into the BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) lounge.
A sprawling hanger broken into corrals, the BYOC area is where attendees come to bring and build their own gaming setups — be it custom PCs or consoles — and just be. In the dim space, lit by pops of screens, string lights, and the LED glow of high-end gaming rigs, there’s a very cozy vibe all around. Here, groups of friends and even entire families are gathered to share their passions in their own private getaway, separated from the distractions of home, and meet others with the same interests. It’s a retreat, one where a pickup game of Fortnite can lead to new friendships and a spontaneous tournament entry could lead to team glory.
Among those looking for glory is a group of professional Counter-Strike 2 hopefuls, members of an incubator academy run by esports legend, Jonathan “Loda” Berg. Berg is a Swedish player and current co-owner and CEO of Alliance, an iconic esports organization. Within the BYOC space at DreamHack, he’s training the next generation of players, but also giving them an opportunity to become part of the larger community. For a team who usually practice online, Berg believes in bringing the players together in person to build their own relationships, but also connect with the fans who support them.
“I see a lot of value in that, honestly,” Berg says. “Especially in Sweden, we’re small groups of people and we’re not super outgoing in the public space. I think this is just such a good opportunity for people to come to be with their peers. That’s what DreamHack has done.”
A Swedish native, Berg knows well the history of DreamHack and how it’s evolved over the years, striking the right balance between focusing on hardcore and broader audiences. But collectively, the mission of inclusivity and acceptance is what draws him in.
“It has a very rich history. Now, it’s all about the community; it’s all about coming to a place where people are the same as you,” he says. “When I went to my first DreamHack, like 15 years ago, it was one of the few places where you could actually find people that you felt at home with. Nowadays, it’s not so scary anymore to say that you’re a gamer.”
For the roughly 2,500 guests in the BYOC hall alone, the sentiment rings true. They not only have a place and a community to call their own, but just beyond the doors, they have entire worlds within reach.
Something for everyone
Outside of the ancillary BYOC hall is the Artist’s Alley, a row of local vendors and artisans selling everything from illustrations to 3D printed models and merch. Unlike some other conventions where cramped spaces and crowds can obscure small vendors, here they’re on full display in high visibility zones — albeit ones just outside the footprint of chaos, where guests can shop at their leisure and speak with the artists themselves.
Inside is the main event, or rather, events. The layout of the Stockholmsm?ssan is a massive rectangle, extending far into the distance like a superhighway lined with all things gaming. It begins with multiple booths from renowned tech and accessory brands, all hosting their own hands-on sessions, as well as a full-sized Elgiganten store, one of Sweden’s biggest retailers and a longtime partner of DreamHack.
Further down there’s free play sections open to all who sign-up, where guests are laying in bean bags, unfazed by the maelstroms of sights and sounds — or maybe just taking a break. It’s surprisingly easy to find ways to unwind on the showroom floor, a feeling that’s alien to most who are accustomed to the more herd-like flow of many conventions. Like a school of fish, everyone seems to simply be swept along by instinct between points of interest.
One key aspect of a video game-centric festival is that there should be, by design, plenty of things to interact with. Obviously, there’s games to play across dozens of different kiosks and corrals, as well as a full arcade for more classic retro vibes, but there’s also an enormous number of tangible activities to get lost in. A booth for hockey has parents and kids alike practice their stick handling skills swatting a puck around digital pads. There’s a full-on Lego Land area where children can build their own custom kits, which is of course guarded by a gargantuan animatronic Bowser, built from the ground up, brick-by-brick.
The design philosophy of DreamHack Stockholm is one that encourages exploration, but also engagement. If someone is passing by a massive cosplay competition (we counted at least three separate ones) and is wondering how designing suits so intricate is possible, they can simply ask. The cosplay corner isn’t just a space to admire the artistry of costume-making, but an active workshop where attendees can learn and purchase materials to get started on their own journey to the runway stage.
Content creators, too, play a huge role in the interactive nature of DreamHack. Beyond the creator studio, a massive space where streamers from all over the world are running their shows live from the grounds, there’s also a dedicated lounge for meet-and-greets and photo ops. But it doesn’t need to be as singular as merely running their day-to-day livestream from the festival. Throughout the showroom floor, there are spaces for creators to run all kinds of programming, from 15-minute studio shows on an open set to a dedicated Kick stage where creators can invite guests to compete in trials like gingerbread house building and arm wrestling before a live audience.
Tyler1 is one such streamer, and a headliner for the festival’s weekend programming. Well known for his League of Legends streams, he’s hosting a 1v1 tournament for walk-ups, and an outrageously unhinged talent show that is rounding out Saturday night. Europe’s biggest YouTube collective, The Sidemen, are drawing massive crowds with an EA Sports FC tournament that’s open to all.
It’s these moments that are essential to the DreamHack experience for fans and creators both, where online celebrity status can become something deeper with a direct connection to the fans. Shahin Zarrabi, Vice President of Festivals at ESL FACEIT Group, is one of the key organizers behind the event. To him, DreamHack offers opportunities usually reserved for more traditional types of fandoms.
“If musicians have their stage dive and movie stars have their red carpet walk, this is where gamers have their moment,” he says. “We want them to engage with their fans, fans to engage with them. Everyone to engage with each other — truly build a community that you get in any other festival.”
For Zarrabi, the soul of DreamHack hasn’t changed despite its exponential growth over the years. If anything, its grassroots origins are more important than ever as a north star for the company. “From the start, from 1994, it’s been about friends coming together, “he says. “We ask people after the event [why] they come to the festival. They can choose between, ‘Oh, I wanted to see the Sidemen,’ or ‘I wanted to listen to music,’ or ‘I wanted to play this game.’ The top choice, consistently, is that they either wanted to hang out with their friends or meet new, like-minded people. That is what we try to do every time; that is how we stay true to our roots.”
A uniquely Swedish experience
Although it began as an exclusively grassroots experience, DreamHack has grown substantially over its three-decade history and become an intercontinental name. In 2024 alone, there were DreamHack festivals in Melbourne, J?nk?ping, and two separate events in North America, bringing the cultural spectacle to Dallas and Atlanta, respectively.
But what makes each of these events stand apart? If you’ve been to one, have you seen them all?
Absolutely not.
Take DreamHack Dallas, a festival that Rolling Stone had the opportunity to explore earlier this year. By its nature, it’s somewhat bigger than Stockholm’s — after all, everything’s bigger in Texas — but not exclusively in arena size or attendance. Zarrabi explains that regions like Dallas are big hubs for esports, and that informs the nature of the programming and what communities are turning out. This year, it hosted the Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2024, a championship tournament for the world’s best Counter-Strike 2 players that drew thousands in-person to spectate.
In Dallas, there was an almost overwhelming amount to see and do, in the best possible way. DreamHack Stockholm, by comparison, feels like a more curated experience, subtler in many ways, although not lacking for anything fans could want.
There’s an air of elegance that pervades DreamHack Stockholm that becomes increasingly apparent the deeper you look. Rather than being set in a huge sports stadium, the weekend’s biggest esports tournament, the first-ever Overwatch Champions Series World Finals, is being played from a sleek stage that resembles a more futuristic take on the Oscars.
The OWCS stage is positioned at the far end of the showroom floor, and shines like a beacon to everyone from afar. From the venue’s entrance, it’s a waypoint — something everyone, esports faithful or not, will want to see during their time at the festival.
It’s that cohesive feeling of a melting pot that embodies the DreamHack spirit as a throughline for all of its festivals: inclusivity and curiosity is baked into its foundation. But there’s a unique feeling that one can ascertain from just a day in the Stockholm iteration — something subtextual within the culture that stands out. With its long history of gaming culture, from LAN communities to esports, Sweden is a country that’s long since embraced its nerdier side and celebrated it.
Whereas DreamHacks in other countries might feel like a safe haven for fans who don’t have many outlets to express their love for gaming, in Stockholm, it feels like an organic extension of a cultural appreciation that exists outside the convention center doors.
That appreciation isn’t lost on anyone, not even the busiest of DreamHack’s guests. Speaking with Jonathan “Reinforce” Snowden, a now-retired Overwatch pro who’s casting the Champions Series, it’s clear that gaming is just part of the fabric in his home nation. “I feel like, in Sweden, DreamHack has been such a great example of a country embracing these large events where people gather to share a passion,” he says. “That is a result — if you look back at the first principles — [of] people just having fun with [and] embracing games.”
Despite being a prolific figure in esports, Snowden sees the larger umbrella under which gaming falls; there’s something there for everyone. “There’s the competitive side that we engage in, which is so much fun,” he says. “But then it’s also the people who like to play PvE (player vs. enemy) games, or co-op. We want to play games together. And I feel like if you try to build a community, it might flourish and become something even greater than what it is currently.”
As someone with years of experience with DreamHack festivals, Shahin Zarrabi can articulate exactly how the brand’s DNA remains intact no matter where the physical event is held. “In Sweden, we have a super strong — in sports, hobbies, or interests — [emphasis] on volunteering,” he says. “DreamHack started out like that; no one got paid to do the first 20 DreamHacks, right? I think that culture has stayed with us, and it’s even exported with us when we go abroad.”
The next generation
For just one weekend, DreamHack Stockholm 2024 manages to pull off a lot of firsts. It’s the first festival of its kind held in the capital city, with a record-breaking attendance that is rivalled only by this year’s Dallas event (which, remember, was in an exponentially larger region). It’s been host to the first Overwatch Champions Series World Finals, the punctuation mark to an inaugural year for the tournament.
But for many, it was just a weekend of first times that make for good memories — whether that’s a maiden trip to the festival itself or seeing a major esports competition in person, or even just meeting new friends. It’s those moments that make DreamHack so special for its fans.
Overlooking the grounds from a quiet lounge above, Zarrabi reflects on the long-term goals for DreamHack moving forward. There’s expansion, yes, but the truth is deeper than that. “[We want] to create these experiences where you’re gonna see it when you’re 12, you want to go back when you’re 25, and then you go with your kids when you’re 40,” he says. “You’ll have a memory that you’ll remember for life; a photo that you took for life.”
On the final day of the festival, walking through the BYOC toward closing time, I catch a glimpse of a man laughing with his family, a girl maybe five-years-old. His name is Michael, and he’s been going to DreamHack and local LAN events since he was a kid. Now, he shares them with his daughter — they’ve been camped out all weekend. For them, it’s quality time, a bonding experience passed down from one generation to the next.
When asked why he chose to camp out for a 72-hour extravaganza filled with Fortnite to connect with his little girl, Michael just smiles: “It’s a culture thing.”
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