This year’s DreamHack Hannover will take place entirely in Hall 13. This means that LAN and the festival will be merged. We will still have the same amount of on-site activities as planned. In this news, we want to transparently explain how we came to this decision and answer the most important questions.
Size example – what do the square meters mean?
With the location in Hannover, we have chosen the world’s largest exhibition grounds to grow together with the community. In Hall 13, we have a total of 23,635 m² available. This is equivalent to 3.3 football fields or 394 classrooms.
Why were there three halls at DreamHack Hannover 2022?
In the first offline event year after the pandemic, planning was challenging, as it was not even certain whether events would take place, especially in winter. So we always had to plan for more open spaces and distances from the beginning. Fortunately, large waves of illness were avoided.
The increasingly challenging global economic situation over the past year also led to last-minute cancellations, such as Gamevasion. Large halls and corresponding spaces were originally planned for these events.
What are the reasons for moving to one hall now?
We have carefully considered whether one hall is sufficient, given that our program has more to offer this year. More diverse exhibitors, larger areas such as tabletop and cosplay, and a completely new area with the Artist Alley. However, the advantages outweighed our decision:
- Shorter distances between activities
- Overall, a denser experience
- Short-term participation for LAN participants in festival activities
- Fewer “cold tunnels” for visitors and LAN participants between halls
- Better heating for LAN participants
Overall, we want to create a living room feeling and a sense of togetherness both at the festival and LAN. We see this possibility best achieved with one hall.
Why did we choose Hall 13?
We briefly considered a two-hall solution, with the festival in Hall 13 and LAN in Hall 11. However, in this solution, LAN participants (and all staff) would have had to walk completely past Hall 12 since it is not suitable infrastructurally for LAN. In summary, the points that led to the decision for Hall 13 are:
- Darkening of Hall 13 is possible
- Direct, large entrance at Hall 13, providing enough space for all different ticket check-ins
- Dedicated entrance for LAN visitors
- Hall 13 has better access to the transportation network than Hall 11 (tram, S-Bahn, regional train, and long-distance)
- Hall 12 is not usable for LAN due to infrastructure
- Most modern hall on the exhibition grounds and therefore the best infrastructure for gaming, esports, and LAN themes
Is there less to discover on-site?
No. There are even significantly more diverse exhibitors and a larger cosplay and tabletop area, as well as the new Artist Alley. The exhibition spaces of exhibitors are more compact in most cases, so the actual used expo space remains roughly the same. We also plan with fewer distances and, therefore, a denser amount of activities. Additionally, there will be two large stages with entertainment programs and esports on-site this year, instead of one large and two smaller stages.
Will there be fewer visitors?
With 20,000 visitors last year, we had a very successful start for the first DreamHack in Hanover. Due to the size of Hall 13, we have enough space again this year to welcome even more visitors.
Is it about cost savings?
No. The savings are limited and flow directly into the offered program. It is more about using the experiences of the last DreamHack to create an even better event this year.
We hope we could answer your questions and look forward to bringing you an even more colorful and diverse program than last year.
If you have further questions, feel free to write to us anytime at info@dreamhack-hannover.de or join our Discord:
