[EXCLUSIVE] The olympic Stadium will host DreamHack Montreal 2018

Photo of Stephanie Harvey: Courtesy

Jean-Simon Bonneterre

Thursday, march 1, 2018 07:00

UPDATE
Thursday, march 1, 2018 07:00

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The largest festival of video games competitive the world has chosen to relocate its montreal edition 2018 of the Place Bonaventure until the olympic Stadium from 7 to 9 September.

As a bonus, the professional player Stephanie “missharvey” Harvey will be speaking as a spokesperson for the event.

Carey who?

Montreal is not only a city of hockey, but also a city of e-sports, at least that is what DreamHack Canada wants to show. Thus, the largest sports stadium in the country will open its doors to the biggest event in fun the metropolis for a weekend of gaming intensive.

According to the spokesperson of the event, the decision to move the DreamHack Place Bonaventure — where the event was being a victim of its success — the olympic Stadium is as much a challenge as a springboard for the e-sport local. “The gaming industry in Quebec is currently more oriented towards the production of video games that the “spectacle” that surrounds it.”
 
“Whether at the level of sponsors [in the field], the formation of teams or spectators when you are organising events, Québec is still in development, but we make our path!”, note the professional player during a lightning visit to Montreal from a stay in Europe, and an upcoming tournament in China. “[As] there are no boundaries in the world of gaming, there is [often] to the left and to the right”, she says in passing.

A huge “playground”

The stadium will opt for a “layout football” at the event. Four scenes in addition to the space BYOC (“bring your own computer” in proper French) will be available on the playing surface. The bleachers will also be available to the public since some of the giant screens will be positioned accordingly.

Photo: Courtesy

Stephanie Harvey passage at the olympic Stadium.

“This is to prove that, even 40 years later, it is able to adapt to what is done today and to be able to present the sport as much as e-sports. We are very happy to host DreamHack this year,” said Cedric Essiminy, public relations consultant for the olympic Park.

After having maximised the available space at the Place Bonaventure, the team of DreamHack Canada has decided to aim for the largest room available in the city in order to provide a better experience for players, visitors, as well as the hundreds of exhibitors who will be present. “The scale of the stadium is a very good challenge for us, but what it will bring us the long term will be positive. We will have more space to present more content. The future is definitely promising,” says Simon Marin, president of DreamHack Canada.

Games and money… lots of money

In 2017, five major tournaments have taken place, or the DreamHack Astro Open CS:GO, the Smash Championship, Hearthstone Great Price, the Starcraft II World Championship Series as well as Capcom Pro Tour for Street Fighter V. This is more than $ 350,000 in scholarships, which had been distributed, including the prize money awarded to the various tournaments BYOC.

According to Max St-Onge, project manager, the team is even higher than last year. “It is sure that one wants to do more. It increases the number of players at 1500, compared to the 1100 of 2017, and it also wants to offer even more scholarships. It also adds probably one or two other tournaments this year,” he explained.

The tournament edition 2018 will be announced in the coming weeks. However, we know already that the world championships (WCS) for Starcraft II will be back, ditto for Street Fighter V which will be also headlining (Premiere Event). A new tournament Brawlhalla will also be held, with an award of $20,000.

DreamHack Canada has also confirmed on Thursday morning the return of Smash.

In short, it will break loose.

If you have as eager as us, you can purchase tickets to the march 7, 9am on the event website.

– With the collaboration of André Péloquin