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Big money to be won in Melbourne
Big money is up for grabs in Australia as a GS:GO tournament returns to the country. A prize pool of AUS $140,000 is being offered to the best teams and players. The tournament will be part of the DreamHack Festival taking place in Melbourne later this month.
ESL-Counter strike made the announcement on their official Twitter feed last year. The tweet read:
“Aussies, get ready to make some noise again next April 28 -30. ESL Challenger Melbourne is returning live to @DreamHack Melbourne next year!”
Early bird tickets went on sale last December, and tickets are still available for the Festival. However, the DreamHack BYOC 3-day LAN Pass tickets have now sold out.
DreamHack is a veritable gaming festival
DreamHack is no run-of-the-mill esports event. It is a veritable, respectable festival with a ton of heritage. Alongside the International CS:GO action with ESL Challenger, there is the Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) LAN party, Expo Hall and live music. Visitors get to explore community gaming activities that are onsite for the duration. There is a creator’s hub, plenty of cosplay and opportunities to meet and greet all your favourites.
The ESL shop also has officially licensed apparel from well-known gaming teams. ESL has hosted CS:GO tournaments in the past, and fans will be delighted to see a new event happening this year at the 52nd edition of ESL Challenger.
An important event for professionals
As well as sharing a $100,000 prize pool, the top players at the event will earn themselves a spot in the ESL Pro League Season 18. Last year it was two Brazilian teams who made it to the finals of ESL Challenger at DreamHack Melbourne 2022: Imperial Esports and paiN Gaming. It was paiN Gaming who won the series in 2022. However, it was FalleN and his crew who got the spot in the EPL Conference.
This year’s event will follow the previous format. Eight squads participate. Four of them will be invited via their ESL World Ranking. The other four teams will battle through qualifiers to earn their place in the competition. The whole event takes place at the prestigious Margaret Court Arena.
What’s going down at DreamHack
Attendees to DreamHack must be over 15 if they want to come on their own. Younger fans need to be accompanied by an adult. Although the LAN party tickets are all sold out, there is still loads of fun to be had at the Festival.
You can either buy a day pass to DreamHack or a full three-day pass. Whichever you choose, you will be able to enjoy the following:
- Freeplay
- Meets and Greets
- Live Esports
- Trash Taste Podcast (Friday only)
- Cosplay Competitions (Saturday and Sunday)
- Artist Alley (all weekend)
- Live Music (Friday and Saturday)
Esports are increasingly popular
CS:GO is of course by no means the only esports on offer. There are also League of Legends and fighting games on offer at DreamHack. Esports have become increasingly popular over recent years. The Commonwealth Games in Birmingham hosted an esports tournament alongside the official games. The Olympic Committee are seriously considering including them in future Olympic Games.
The next Olympic hosts, France, declared a couple of months back that they are putting structures in place to become an esports nation. Esports are popular with punters who like to have a flutter, and you can compare which platforms are the best for the tournament by looking at Australian bookmaker reviews.
A very different gaming festival in Adelaide
If you can’t get enough of gaming events, then block out your diary for Avcon later this year. It takes place at Adelaide’s Convention Centre between July 21st and 23rd this year. It is the go-to event for all anime gaming fans. Now in its 21st year, it is Adelaide’s premier video games festival. This has a different vibe as it is run by volunteers on a not-for-profit basis.
The organisers say it is a community event celebrating anime, gaming, cosplay, creativity, pop culture, art and more. Avcon comes together as one big community event and attracts people of all ages.
