Digital festival DreamHack and Rotterdam Ahoy have announced the signing of a long-term partnership, bringing the world’s largest digital festival to Rotterdam, Netherlands.

DreamHack Rotterdam will be part of the Rotterdam Ahoy-run e-sports and gaming event Rotterdam Games Week, and will take place from 18-19 October 2019.

It will feature a DreamHack Open championship in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with a prize pool of one hundred thousand dollars, a gaming expo with a lot of interaction, cosplay competitions, panel meetings and a ‘bring your own device’ LAN party.

In addition, pre-events will be organised where fans can jointly watch finals of e-sports tournaments. In cooperation with the city of Rotterdam and other stakeholders, Rotterdam Ahoy is working on further components for the Rotterdam Games Week.

“Sport and entertainment are in our DNA”, said Ahoy CEO Jolanda Jansen. “We have the long-term vision and ambition to set up an annual international event in the field of e-sports and gaming, in Ahoy and in the city of Rotterdam.

“We have spoken to many parties in the market – from publishers to gamers – and received much positive feedback, encouragement and cooperation. We have the confidence that together with DreamHack we are starting a new tradition, and will give much priority to the further implementation of DreamHack Rotterdam and Rotterdam Games Week.”

Rotterdam Ahoy has previous experience from the e-sports scene as they, back in 2016, hosted a sold-out European final of League of Legends. It was the starting signal for an own event in the field of e-sports and gaming, for which the foundation has now been laid with the cooperation with DreamHack.

DreamHack CEO Marcus Lindmark said: “We are looking forward to working with the people of Ahoy and are very confident that we have both found the right partner and the right venue for our event in the Benelux. Rotterdam Ahoy has a great track record in organising and hosting prestigious events and has moreover proven to have the same ethos of getting things done in a high standard and cooperative way.

For additional information on the event and Rotterdam Games Week, visit www.rotterdamgamesweek.com