DreamHack Fighters 2024 champions Dallas FGC and beyond: “It’s 100% a big deal.”

The DreamHack Fighters 2024 event witnessed players within the fighting game community (FGC) duking it out for the gold. Its dedicated area at DreamHack Dallas was filled with both local and international attendees as they cheered for their favorites, faced each other via PC booths, and waited their turn to become legends in the making. Esports.gg chatted with attendees to learn about the Dallas FGC and more!

DreamHack Fighters 2024 showcased the skills of Street Fighter 6 and TEKKEN 8 players. There, they battled to qualify for the inaugural Esports World Cup. These qualifiers featured legend Justin Wong as a commentator as well. While players fought on the main stage, we chatted with Street Fighter 6 player and Chun-Li main Cristiano "WTE cristiano" Luna about his thoughts on the tournament and the FGC scene in Texas.

"I'm just here for fun, but as a viewer thing, a lot of pro players come out, a lot of foreign players come out. It's really awesome because I haven't had the opportunity to travel to any of these major tournaments," WTE cristiano said. "So it being here in Dallas is actually so awesome."

He added that he's a native Texan before talking about the Esports World Cup's significance. "DreamHack Dallas is just a good regional tournament overall. Before we got the Esports World Cup, it was like people coming out from different cities in Texas, maybe some other states. But for this year, it's a big deal. It's 100% a big deal."

In addition to Street Fighter 6, WTE cristiano competed in TEKKEN 8 as an Asuka main. He expressed his excitement in seeing a player such as Arslan “Arslan Ash” Ash. This player later qualified to the Esports World Cup for TEKKEN 8.

"I'm really excited about my favorite players. It's my first TEKKEN, so looking up and seeing Arslan Ash who's coming out here is really amazing," WTE cristiano said. "I'm excited to do a lot of high-level TEKKEN. That's always the fun part when it comes to big events like this — it's the high-level play."

Near the DreamHack Fighters stage was viewer Harrison "Split" Vo, who was attending his first-ever event of this kind. His main in Street Fighter 6 is Luke.

"It's the first event I've been to so seeing all these players doing all these high-level plays has been really good," Split said. "I want to meet MenaRD. He's the most consistent player there is," he added, referring to Saul "MenaRD" Mena.

MenaRD later qualified to the Esports World Cup for Street Fighter 6 alongside Tsunehiro "gachikun" Kanamori, Benjamin "Problem X" Simon, Arman “Phenom” Hanjani, Zhen “Zhen” Kuang, Yuk “Chris Wong” Cheung Wong, Du “NuckleDu” Dang, and Li-Wei “Oil King” Lin.

Similar to cristiano, Split lives in Texas. "I'm local to Dallas and I'm pretty new to Street Fighter. I just picked it up this year. And I think this goes for not just Dallas, but just in the fighter game scene in general — everyone's super nice, everyone's willing to help out, and everyone's really welcoming."

Elsewhere in the DreamHack Fighters area were competitors Osman "OzyRashid" Rashid and Daniel "Danny Deleto" Medellin. While OzyRashid mains Kazuya, Danny Deleto enjoys playing Devil Jin.

Similar to the stories of WTE cristiano and Split, OzyRashid hasn't been to a lot of tournaments. However, he decided to take a leap with DreamHack Dallas since it's the closest one to Irving. He also noted how the locals have always been really welcoming in the three times he’s attended events.

"I've been maining Kazuya since TEKKEN 7 and I plan to stick with him," OzyRashid continued. "A lot of people I've talked to think Kazuya is not good. I mean, of course I agree, but of course I'm gonna still stick with him no matter what."

Meanwhile, Danny Deleto said that he's not new to tournaments since he's been going to them for about four or five years now. He said he knows everyone who's local and how as a former Super Smash Bros. player, it's good to see it at DreamHack Dallas. "I remember that there was like one local one day a week and sometimes even two in one day," he recalled.

Danny Deleto revealed to esports.gg that he took time off work to attend DreamHack Fighters 2024 as well.

"I wanted to go last year, but I was working," he said. "I played TEKKEN 7 and TEKKEN 8 is my full-time series. I just love going to tournaments, love all the community. There's a certain aura or feel to it when you sit down and play a game."

In addition to these Esports World Cup qualifiers, DreamHack Fighters also welcomed six open tournaments. These were for Mortal Kombat 1, Guilty Gear -Strive-, GranBlue Fantasy Versus Rising, Super Smash Bros Ultimate Singles, Super Smash Bros Ultimate Doubles, and UNDER NIGHT 2.

Check out all of the DreamHack Fighters 2024 results below!

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more interviews, news, and updates across the global FGC!