Dreamhack Australia 2024 has kicked off, with fans gathering at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne for a weekend of esports and gaming. 

The doors opened at 10 AM this morning, and everyone was gathering in the arena, with some time to mingle, get some food, catch some Pokemon, and get their bearings before the first ESL competitive event began at 11 AM. An hour is a little long for walking around, especially as exhibitions in the artists’ alley hadn’t set up their stalls yet. But as I saw, hot chips, coffee, and the Pikachu hats you can get at the Pokemon GO booth are go-to items for many.

Over the weekend (tickets still available as of writing), there will be CSGO 2 and League of Legends tournaments, a cosplay competition, which, for the first time, gets the winner a ticket to the Extreme Cosplay Gathering qualifiers.

Ben Green, Senior Product Manager, DreamHack, at ESL FACEIT Group, said:

“DreamHack Melbourne 2024 is Australia’s biggest DreamHack yet, with more things to do and more fans raring to attend the festival than ever before. We’ve doubled the number of artists in the Artist Alley, tripled the size of our tabletop area & added new activities, and dotted a bunch more free-play games all around the festival. The team has doubled down on what made last year’s event so special, making DreamHack Melbourne amazing value for attendees, whether you grab a one day pass for $45 or spend the whole three days with us for just $99.” 

Are you heading down to the Rod Laver Arena this weekend? Sound off in the comments section below and let me know,.