Valencia (EFE).- The DreamHack video game and electronic sports festival lands in Valencia from July 7 to 9 with a program to awaken the “passion” for video games, Korean pop (“K-pop”) and game tournaments like “League of Legends” or “Clash Royale”, with an audience forecast of 60,000 people.
As in previous editions, Feria Valencia will host in this summer edition of DreamHack a LAN, camping and gaming area for people who bring their own computers and consoles, and a fair pavilion where daily activities will take place.
This was explained to EFE by the director of the festival, Javier Carrión, who defines the event as “a small world that lasts four days”, since users of the LAN zone can already be installed on Thursday.
National and international competitions
This year, Dream Hack hosts for the first time in Valencia the ‘League of Legends’ super league, the highest state competition for one of the most played video games in the world, which will take place over two days, on Saturday and Sunday, between 3:00 p.m. and 22 hours.
It will not be the only “gamers” competition that will host this festival, but will also be held on Saturday morning, the most important international competition for ‘Clash Royale’, one of the mobile games with the most players, with players from Egypt, Brazil or South Korea, the eight best in the world, and prizes of up to 15,000 euros.
Formula 1 simulators, tattoo artists and basketball
In addition to the tournaments, the summer DreamHack 2023 includes “a practically infinite battery of activities during the three days”, according to its director.
Carrión has highlighted that an area with professional Formula 1 simulators will be installed at the festival, that is, replicas worth 5,000 euros, almost exact to the cars they imitate, with which new video games can be tested.
In addition to “K-pop” and “cosplay” or costume contests, the festival hosts 60 exhibitors with various activities such as a tattoo artist, rap exhibitions and cockfights or “merchandising” shops.
The different electronic sports teams will also have their own spaces, where they will organize activities for their fans, and there will also be a fair with inflatables for challenges and games and a 3×3 basketball competition with Valencia Basket.
In addition, visitors will be able to try both board games, in a specific area with more than 50, and video games, since for the first time this fair has a space where more than 30 video games signed by Spanish developers can be played.
Influencers and public
After more than a dozen editions in summer and as many in winter, Javier Carrión has highlighted the evolution of the festival’s public, which he has described as “tremendous”.
“When we started, 500 people came and now we expect around 60,000 or 65,000,” he explained, adding that the profile has also changed and some of the visitors are now older.
Specifically, it has detailed that the average age of those who use the LAN camping and gaming area is between 28 and 32 years old, while the visitors to the festival itself and its activities are mostly between 19 and 22 years old.
The evolution of content has also been marked by changes in the sector, which in some cases, he concludes, is a “radical” evolution, such as that of video game “influencers”, who did not exist before and now “move to a lot of people.” EFE