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Dreamhack Winter’s 2023 festival was one of the biggest and most successful events in its history.
More than 45,000 gamers, music fans, and pop-culture lovers took over the Swedish city of Jönköping for a weekend in November to game, watch live music (such as Wasted Penguinz) and let go – but it was not a completely happy affair.
Shortly after Dreamhack concluded, it was confirmed that it would be the final Winter event held at Jönköping for the foreseeable future – but it isn’t all bad.
Shahin Zarrabi, the Vice President of Festivals for Dreamhack, confirmed Dreamhack Winter would from now on be held in Stockholm, Sweden, instead.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk in a backroom at Dreamhack Winter, Shahin spoke about the tough decision: “Every year we look at our calendar – how should it look, both for next year, but also the upcoming three, five, ten years? And over the past few years, we’ve obviously expanded to Australia, Japan, San Diego and the US.”
Shahin continued: “Stockholm was not necessarily: ‘Hey, we have this festival here and we need to go somewhere else with it,’ but rather, if we were to go, if we were to design the circuit from scratch, where would we go?”
Stockholm, he explained, was the “natural choice” for Dreamhack.
This winter edition of Dreamhack would be the only Swedish version of the convention moving, though. Dreamhack Summer (as it stands right now) will remain at Jönköping. “We thought,” Shahin said. “Let’s have one where it was born or where we grew big, and one in the capital of gaming in the Scandinavian region – but, probably, also in the world.”
On top of that, Shahin noted, he and the rest of the Dreamhack team hope both Jönköping and Stockholm versions of the festival “continue to grow” in the coming years.
Where else is Dreamhack going to spring up in the coming years, though? There are festivals all over the world – but Shahin has his eyes on the Brits.
“[The UK] is definitely on the radar,” Shahin announced. “We’re looking right now. What we would do in, let’s say, 2025, 2026, or even 2027 as further expansions [are] planned?
“We’re looking all over the world, right? Strong interest in Brazil, in China, Southeast Asia – but at the same time, there is a lower barrier of entry into some markets in the Western world (if we can call it that). Because we have a shared culture frame [of] reference frame between, you know, even Sweden, UK, US. We watch the same streamers. We watch the same games. And so that’s obviously a positive factor for us.”
Despite how exciting that idea is, Shahin is being careful not to just throw up a Dreamhack festival anywhere in the world.
He said: “At the same time, we don’t just want to do the same events but somewhere else. But the UK would definitely be one of those countries that will be high up on the list.”
Tickets for Dreamhack Summer – which remains in Jönköping – go on sale January 25, 2024 on the official website here.
