DreamHack to host Showdown tournament series with $100,000 prize pool

DreamHack Showdown, the all-female CS:GO tournament, will return in 2020, DreamHack announced today.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, DreamHack Showdown will host four online series with a combined prize pool of $100,000. The tournament series will consist of two events in Europe and two events in North America with a prize pool of $25,000 each.

The first events are set to kick off on July 17 in Europe and July 24 in North America as part of the DreamHack Showdown Summer. The DreamHack Showdown Fall will take place later this year, with a date that’s yet to be confirmed.

DreamHack will use a double-elimination bracket as the format for the Showdown tournament series. It’ll feature two invited teams and four squads that will come from open qualifiers. The invited teams will be seeded into the second round of the upper bracket, while the rosters from open qualifiers will face each other in the first round.

“DreamHack is committed to supporting diversity, so this event has become particularly special to us,” said Marcus Lindmark, DreamHack’s co-CEO. “These are going to be tremendous competitions featuring some of the best women CS:GO players in the world—it is truly a not-to-be-missed tournament.”

DreamHack Showdown was introduced in 2019 at DreamHack Valencia in July. Eight all-female teams battled for the $50,000 top prize and a spot at DreamHack Open Rotterdam in October. Besiktas beat CLG Red in the grand finals and won the first edition of DreamHack Showdown.