DreamHack’s VP of festivals explains the growth of esports and taking the event to the UK: “We need to be here”

by

DreamHack, which began in 1994, has become a central and highly important event in the world of esports.

After hosting some smaller gatherings, DreamHack is coming to the UK with its full event in Birmingham for the first time ever.

Before the big launch for DreamHack in Birmingham, I spoke with Shahin Zarrabi, DreamHack’s VP of festivals, to understand the reasoning behind the timing and location.

Last year, we completely revamped our global strategy. We decided to exit a few markets that no longer aligned with our goals and began exploring new opportunities for expansion, as Zarrabi explained.

The UK is a major global market for both gaming and esports. However, with the cancellation of Insomnia and EGX scaling back, we saw a real need for a large-scale gaming event in a country with such a passionate and sizable gaming community. We felt it was important to fill that gap.

Birmingham proved to be an ideal choice for the event. It’s easily accessible by air, boasts a fantastic convention center, and already has a large, established community – everything we were looking for.

DreamHack has long been a key part of the esports world. In fact, Zarrabi calls it the former “kingmaker of esports” because of its significant influence on the beginnings of popular games like Counter-Strike, Dota, Starcraft, and League of Legends.

For the past thirty years, DreamHack has played a key role in the growth of esports, watching it transform from small, local competitions into a major global entertainment industry. Zarrabi points to several factors that have driven this change.

Around 2010 and 2011, two major trends emerged: more people gained access to social media and smartphones, and livestreaming started to become popular.

Originally, live streaming started with platforms like Justin.tv, which later became Twitch. YouTube also joined the scene, and now there are many similar platforms available. At first, games like StarCraft and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive became incredibly popular for streaming, and then Dota and League of Legends followed suit.

These three factors combined created the ideal conditions for esports to quickly mature. It felt like a huge jump forward – a decade’s worth of progress happened in just a couple of years, dramatically improving the professionalism, finances, audience size, and available platforms needed for a thriving esports scene.

DreamHack is launching in the UK during a difficult period for gaming events, following the cancellation of Insomnia Gaming Festival and the reduced size of EGX.

While DreamHack sees this as a great opportunity, I also asked Zarrabi about the challenges of hosting live events in 2026 and how they’re planning to stay current and successful long-term.

There are two main issues at play here: the immediate challenges and what the future holds. Right now, and even before the pandemic began, putting on events is becoming increasingly expensive. Many event organizers are pointing to the pandemic as the cause, but the rising costs were already a concern.

That’s why many events are now focusing on very exclusive, high-end packages, or shifting to professional conferences instead of events for the general public. This change definitely impacts our business, too.

Want to see this content?

This page uses a security feature called Google reCAPTCHA. Before it loads, we need your permission because it might use cookies and similar technologies. If you want to see the content, please select ‘Accept and continue’ to enable reCAPTCHA.

Looking ahead, Zarrabi thinks certain events are too focused on their original fans and haven’t noticed that those fans are getting older.

Zarrabi believes many conventions are too focused on attracting established fans and their spending, potentially transforming events into simple marketplaces for items easily found online.

The key to success lies in attracting a new generation of gamers who don’t have the same outdated perceptions of gaming as being strange or uncool. This group represents a huge, largely unexplored opportunity.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha don’t have many opportunities to connect in person, preferring to socialize through their phones. This lack of real-life interaction is linked to increased rates of depression and feelings of loneliness among these generations.

We’re moving away from typical gaming formulas and trying something fresh, specifically for today’s players. I think that’s the really exciting part of this project.

We believe this is the only path to success. Simply copying what other gaming events and conventions are doing won’t lead to growth or help us stand out.

Want to see this content?

This page includes videos from YouTube. We need your permission to load them because YouTube uses cookies and similar technologies. By selecting ‘Accept and continue,’ you’ll allow YouTube to function and show you the content.

Zarrabi thinks the real strength isn’t just attracting young people, but how the focus on real-life experiences helps people connect with each other.

Ultimately, we all crave connection. What brings us the most joy is simply spending time with others and sharing experiences.

It’s really fascinating – after every festival we run surveys to find out why people attended. What we consistently find is that the main reason is either spending time with friends or making new ones. This is true for every event we’ve held.

Many event organizers believe that great content is the main draw for attendees. However, feedback suggests that’s not actually what brings people back – there are other, more important reasons.

We know in-person events are valuable. Even if you enjoy gaming at home, there’s a real desire to connect with others who share your interests, make new friends, and experience that connection in person.

We’re really concentrating on building something special – a place that draws you in and makes you want to return year after year.

DreamHack Birmingham takes place at the NEC on 27-29 March 2026.

Tickets are available from the official DreamHack website.

Authors

Alex RaisbeckGaming writer

Alex Raisbeck writes about video games for TopMob, covering both big-name titles and smaller independent games. He’s also contributed to several other gaming publications, including VideoGamer, GamesRadar+, PC Gamer, and PCGamesN.

  • Visit us on Twitter

Read More

2026-03-25 14:35