Guy Blomberg, event director for DreamHack interview: “The celebration of all things gaming, everybody all under one roof.”

Esports.gg got a chance to sit down and interview Guy Blomberg, the event director for DreamHack, to talk about the event and what it means to him.

Esports.gg: So you are an advocate of the phrase "gaming under one roof." What does that mean to you and to DreamHack?

Guy Blomberg: I think it means a celebration of all types of games in gaming culture. So really, it's all your platforms: PC console, mobile, handheld, but also tabletop. From board games, card games, to miniatures to RPGs to Dungeons and Dragons to competitive professional esports that bring the best players in the world to random tournaments where kids can enter.

The idea is cohesively the celebration of all things gaming, everybody all under one roof. I think to be a gamer 10 or 15 years ago you were almost kind of be a little ostracized. It was kind of like you are a gamer, but these days, it's more of what type of games do you play because there are so many games.

Right. There are so many different pockets and niches within the gaming space.

Guy Blomberg: Yeah, and I think there's a lot of folks that love esports that might not have been exposed to tabletop games. There's a bunch of folks that are like hardcore PC gamers, but they walk past the VR. I think there's just a lot of crossover interest within the gaming community and putting everything under one roof means that you get to discover and explore while still celebrating the games that you love.

DreamHack hosted an indie game area for developers to show off their games for the public. How important is it for DreamHack to host a space for these indie developers to showcase their games and have your support?

Guy Blomberg: It's so important. I personally believe indie game developers are the lifeblood of the gaming industry. They are the ones that are being really innovative and creative and putting themselves and their lives out on the line. So for us to actually create a space for them — also not for us to curate these games, but we actually worked with a bunch of associations that actually represent developers. So the IGDA, Black Voices in Gaming, Women in Games to actually ask other game developers from the community that you think would benefit from a space in this particular area. That area has grown quite significantly, but we want to grow it more.

I want to give back as much as possible to give the opportunities to developers. Just to give them the platform. It's incredibly validating for a developer that's been slogging away for six to twelve months on their own to then show this game to the world and see people actually get hands on and play it. It's more than just focus testing. It's a real validation of what they brought. I really believe in the importance of developers being able to share their games in a physical space. So I want us to support that but also grow it all.

I also think it gives us a really good chance to hit up and give opportunities to local developers as well, not just within Dallas, but the whole Texas region. Just like artists alley here. I heard most of them are all local artists, too. So it's about supporting the region. It's very different from Dallas to Atlanta or the communities, the culture, the developers and the artists that we get is different from Charlotte. And that's part of what makes the shows different and unique.

DreamHack Dallas has a massive area for specifically tabletop gaming. How important is it for DreamHack to host a space for the tabletop community to showcase their games and have your support?

Guy Blomberg: You know, it goes back to the thing you asked at the beginning about gaming under one roof. I think that DreamHack has such a heritage and the history around a gaming culture from BYOC, esports, competitive PC gaming, and whatnot. But what we've discovered and what we're finding out is gaming is much broader than just that. And so it would be disingenuous of us if we didn't highlight and provide the opportunities for folks that love tabletop games as well.

I think each DreamHack, each different country has its own flavor and its own path of where they lean into for the shows here in America. We are leaning hard into tabletop this year. From Dallas last year where we had just the the MTG regional qualifiers and we have that here as well, but now we also have twice as much of a whole year just free play. Tabletop tournaments, board games, card games, the Warhammer invitationals and things I think even extending for like the creators and the guests. Like tomorrow, we've got like the live Dungeons and Dragons one shot with Brennan Lee Mulligan and the Dimension 20. We're stoked about that as well because I think that just shows the variety.

DreamHack has had monumental growth since it started. Now, at DreamHack Dallas you are celebrating the 100th Intel Extreme Masters tournament. What does that mean for you, DreamHack, and the esports industry as a whole?

Guy Blomberg: I think it's a validation of esports as a culture. You know, it's kind of funny esports is not that old. Compared to other classic sports like football, soccer or basketball, it's not that old. So celebrating 100 IEMs is a huge achievement. But it's also just the idea that you can kind of compare it to traditional sports and go, "There's still so much to go."

It's also the validation of esports amongst a broader audience as well. Gaming used to be a niche and stereotyped. Whereas now, you've got stadiums filling up with these esports games that are as big as any other sport, you've got events that are streaming and are viewed more than the Olympics, all this kind of stuff. So I think it's just a validation and that it's going to continue to grow. These are the games and this is the culture that we grew up with. These are the players and the games that we're invested in and we care about so much.

What is your favorite thing about DreamHack? Whether it's like the community, the competition, the guests, if you could narrow it down to one thing, what would it be?

Guy Blomberg: It's actually a lot about the gameplay experiences. I think there's a lot of opportunities to kind of enter a tournament or pick up a controller and play a game where you can become the winner. Everyone you see — people around the show can get their own rock star moment. And there's a real satisfaction of seeing some young kid enter a random Smash Bros. tournament and win and that moment, even if it was like $500 prize — that moment is gonna stick with them. I think for me, it's those moments that I know are gonna stick with those people for decades.

What's something you know that we haven't talked about that you'd kind of like to share?

Guy Blomberg: I'm really proud of a lot of the variety of content that we've got across our stages and stuff. Like it's not just competitive tournaments. We do a lot of creator-based content like Creator Showdown, a mystery sleuthing panel, Jackbox trivia, the cosplay drag show, the Dungeons and Dragons one shot. We've got a lot of really interesting content that happens at the show that I think a lot of people might not expect from like a competitive gaming event.

To me, that's just another example of all the different things that are here. Also, there's this new thing that we did this year that we're kind of testing out and I think it's worked really well. I want to double down on the community rooms.

The idea is going out to all the local community groups like whether it be an Overwatch fan group or a gaming dev meetup group and be like, "Here's a room for you guys." Like an hour or two, catch up, take photos, just like a centralized point for like these groups to meet because you got tens of thousands of people that come to DreamHack from all around the country and around the world. Sometimes, it's the only chance they get to see each other face to face, so cultivating and curating a space for them to connect — that's been really successful this weekend. I've been really glad to see that. I want to do more of that. I want to get more spaces for folks in various intermediaries to catch up.

That's all for our interview with Guy Blomberg. For more gaming content, stay tuned to esports.gg.