"We've very happy with the event overall. If you look at the viewing numbers online, it's great, but of course it's sad that we didn't get more visitors to the event. But that's the way it is, if you look at all of the American CS:GO events it's been hard. We had a great opportunity to do this together with MGM, who were a sponsor for the event, which is why we have a $450,000 prize pool. That is much thanks to the collaboration we have with them.



They have a beautiful arena, and it a perfect match with players and teams. The players have been very positive and feel a positivity being in Las Vegas, so when we look at the big picture we're very happy with the event. The statistics regarding viewers online have been very, very good. Especially considering it's in an American time zone", Lyckedal tells us when asked about his personal thoughts on the event.

The trophy, which rotated on a stage at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

"I think MLG Columbus has been the most successful one in that way. I think you need to reach out to people in that specific region. Maybe the Columbus region have a lot of CS:GO fans. Apparently that's not the case for Las Vegas", he says.

"I think it's mostly the media and sponsor interest. It's the biggest market. If we look at Twitch numbers, USA provides the largest amount of viewers. Having an event in the US is a big thing no matter the category. There's also a huge esports community there, but because of the country's large size, it's more spread out than the one we have in Sweden with a population of 10 million people", he explains.

"Yes, it's incredibly hard!"

greykarn answers the question if it's difficult to plan an event in the USA.

"Yes, it's incredibly hard! But esports is still in its cocoon. I mean, people use the picture of Katowice in all the presentations, kind of. What I mean is that it's not an easy task to fill arenas with e-sports fans. We were very happy when we managed to do that in Malmö, and I think we'll succeed again this year. Now that we've released the tickets and look at the sales, it looks very positive.



That's also because there are a lot of Swedish fans. I don't think that it's super easy, even though DreamHack invest millions of SEK on this event. It's not easy for anyone. I mean it's tight", he says.

DreamHack Masters Malmö had a great audience attendance last year.

"It's a combination for us, we want to have the on-site experience and transmit it to people's homes, and I think we were successful doing that in Malmö. People understood the hype of being in the arena, which made it cool to watch from home. So it's a combination. We work very hard with the audience and our stage setup, and of course that requires having people in the arena.



Of course it's a bit sad for us not to have the impact we wanted, but we're still very satisfied overall. We're looking forward to Malmö, and I think we will make even cooler things there, and we're very proud of our work so far. This was our first big event in the USA ever. We've also gotten a lot of positive feedback", he says.

"I think it's the perfect time of the year"

greykarn regarding the chance of making DreamHack Malmö a Major.

"We have given Valve a proposition, of course. But you never know, they are the ones who decide. You get very little information before a decision has been made. Of course we wish for it, and I think it's the perfect time of the year. It's right after the players vacation as well, so we think it's got the best timing. I don't think Valve and other organizers see it that way though. Maybe it should be held earlier, in July maybe, because Malmö is in the first weekend of September, the ending of August, so it might be a little tight to the next Major if they aim to have it in January again.



We think it's a perfect event for a Major though, and we proved that last time, too. We did the biggest non-Major CS:GO event, and I think that proves that we can deliver as well. We think this year's Malmö tournament will be a cool event no matter what, but naturally it would be super fun if it became a major", he finishes hopefully.



Translation: André "rich" Åkerblom

The viewer numbers went up the roof, the sound of slot machines were combined with the voices and screams from some of the planet's best CS:GO players talents on the casino floor at the second largest hotel in the world, MGM Grand. Curious Americans and tourists gathered around the matches, trying to realize what actually was going on.The Swedish tournament organizer DreamHack have really gone all-in with their Masters concept.The first tournament, which was held in Malmö last year, was a big step and a great success, and one could only hope to experience the same thing in one of the biggest and luxurious cities in North America, namely Las Vegas. But once the playoffs kicked off, the casters' voices echoed in an almost empty arena.I had the opportunity to talk to Tomas "greykarn" Lyckedal, Chief Branding Officer at DreamHack, during the last day of the tournament. He shared his thoughts on the Masters Las Vegas event and on organizing events in the US, as well as their upcoming DreamHack Masters Malmö and hopes of getting that sweet, sweet Major stamp. Overall, he's very happy with the event in Nevada.When I ask him if he thinks they might have picked the wrong city to hold a tournament in, he says you can see two sides of it all, and he compares it to other tournaments. For example, events like IEM Oakland, ESL One New York, ECS in Anaheim as well as the Eleague Major might not have been as audience packed as people think.Having a tournament on North American soil is incredibly popular right now. Aside from DreamHack we've seen ESL hold IEM Oakland and ESL One New York. ECS also chose the US, more specifically Anaheim, for their last finals. On top of that, two of the last three Valve Majors have been held in Columbus and Anaheim, respectively. Why are organizers lured to the western side of the Atlantic Ocean? Lyckedal thinks it's because of the media interest.Regarding the difficulty of planning a large, arena-type event like Masters, he uses IEM Katowice as an example.Aside from the on-site viewing experience, DreamHack are well known to take care of the viewers online. A great example of this is their time and effort spent on the production when it comes to hype movies with both players and experts at the event, including live broadcasts of happenings at the event. For Lyckedal, it's equally important that the viewers at home get to take part of the experience, which was hard to do during the Las Vegas event.After talking to players in Las Vegas, I got the impression that a lot of people want, and hope, that DreamHack will be the organizers of the next Major. Lyckedal says that they have proposed the idea to Valve, and hope that they have a chance.