DreamHack has revealed how the open tournaments will be held during the 2021 season. A total of seven events with a total prize pool of $700,000 are to be held within the DreamHack Open cycle. Two of them are planned to be held in LAN format.
The first five DreamHack Open competitions will be held in online format, with channels from two regions taking part in each of them. The first of them, designed for teams from Europe and North America, already started last Wednesday. South America, Asia and Oceania will appear in subsequent tournaments. Online competitions will be held in January, March, June, September and October. And in November, two offline – events are due to take place in the United States and Sweden.
This series of games is seen as one tier of the ESL Pro Tour, with the main goal – of providing teams with an affordable pathway to larger cybersport events. Last week, ESL and DreamHack revealed the championships planned for 2021. Only IEM Katowice will be fully online, and in the future the organizers expect to combine formats.
Sean Clark, Head of ESL Pro Tour at ESL Gaming, commented on these plans as follows: «ESL and DreamHack share a common desire to create an open ecosystem that gives talented young players the opportunity to succeed while developing their careers. We are therefore pleased to announce the competition schedule for the entire year, including a plan to return to offline events».