DreamHack Winter To Host First Fortnite LAN Tournament Since 2020
| Tags: Dreamhack, Fortnite
| Author Matt Pryor
DreamHack announces a $3K USD Fortnite LAN tournament at its Winter event, the first since February 2020.
Fortnite Battle Royale will return to an offline tournament setting later this month for the first time since 2020. Swedish production company DreamHack — which has hosted several Fortnite LANs and online competitions — announced today that it would host an offline tournament at the upcoming DreamHack Winter festival in Sweden. It’s a monumental step for the scene, and while the details are sparse, there’s enough to excite players and fans that have anxiously awaited this moment.
Fortnite LANs Return at DreamHack Winter
You asked for it and we're super thrilled to deliver: there WILL be a Fortnite tournament at DreamHack Winter 👏
🎟️ https://t.co/VfDI8Ap2D8#DHW21 #backtotheroots pic.twitter.com/AR8C4iflFf
— DreamHack (@DreamHack) November 10, 2021
Competitive Fortnite returns to LAN on November 25, 2021, at DreamHack Winter. The tournament, dubbed Stimorol Cup, boasts a 25K Swedish Krona (SEK) prize pool, which converts to around $2.9K USD. It’s a solo tournament likely open to all players over the age of 13. The prize pool might not generate interest from players outside of Europe. Regardless, the event is worth celebrating after nearly two years of strictly online tournaments.
More than 600 days have passed since Fortnite Battle Royale’s last in-person LAN event. To be precise, it was February 23, 2020, when Martin “MrSavage” Foss Andersen triumphed at DreamHack Anaheim over some of the world’s best players. Since then, COVID-19 has been Fortnite’s most significant adversary. Epic Games took the game’s competitive scene entirely online with a slew of multi-million dollar Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) tournaments throughout all of 2020 into 2021.
The end of only online tournaments is near, and it would not occur without Epic Games’ blessing. Fortnite’s developers made it clear that the game would not return to in-person events until at least 2022, but that seems to have changed.
Epic has not released an official statement regarding this tournament. However, we can expect more information on November 19 during the inaugural Hype Hour Show before the $5M USD Grand Royale Finals.
COVID-19 Protocols at DreamHack Winter
DreamHack has made it clear that it takes COVID-19 seriously and has put proper precautions to protect attendees. The tournament’s website explains the process DreamHack plans to take for all of those attending the event:
- Attendees over 16 years old must be vaccinated against COVID-19
- If you are 16 years or older and can’t get vaccinated due to health reasons, you have to take a mandatory test at the additional cost of 149SEK. Health reasons have to be verified through a doctor’s note.
- A mandatory COVID-19 test will be taken upon arrival (the cost of 149SEK is included in the LAN Junior ticket) for all visitors below the age of 16
The exact prize pool breakdown and tournament structure are not available yet. We’ll be sure to update you when that information surfaces. DreamHack Winter is open to people of all ages and will occur from November 25 to 28. For more details, visit this website.
Feature Images: DreamHack