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DreamHack announces $100,000 Smash series

Dreamhack, an organization known for large-scale PC LAN events, is getting into the console game with the announcement of a Smash tournament series. Jens Schlueter/Getty Images

The longtime tournament organizer DreamHack announced on Thursday a new six-tournament Super Smash Bros. series with $100,000 up for grabs.

The DreamHack Smash 2017 Season will feature tournaments in North America and Sweden, and will host both Super Smash Bros. Melee and the more recent Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

It all kicks off in April at DreamHack Austin in Texas. The lion's share of $10,000 will be in play for Melee and Smash 4, respectively.

"Supporting Smash is definitely worthwhile for DreamHack. The audience and appetite for Smash is huge, and DreamHack isn't just about CS:GO. At DreamHack we try to support as many games and communities as possible, and so adding Smash is a natural choice, Michael Van Driel, chief products officer at DreamHack, told to ESPN.

DreamHack has hosted Melee tournaments in the past, but this is the first effort to make Smash a staple at the largest LAN party in the world. This year, DreamHack will also host Smash 4 tournaments, but only in the North American events.

Conflicts are unfortunate as always. There's a number of variables at play, between other events, holidays, venue availability and many more that we at DreamHack have little control over. We do our best to avoid conflicts but when we host 5 or 6 different big titles at one event overlaps are inevitable, thats just the reality of event hosting," Van Driel said.

The tournament schedule is as follows:

  • DreamHack Austin: Austin, Texas, April 28-30

  • DreamHack Summer: Jönköping, Sweden, June 17-19

  • DreamHack Atlanta: July 21-23

  • DreamHack Montreal: Sept. 8-10

  • DreamHack Denver: Oct. 20-22

  • DreamHack Winter: Jönköping, Sweden, Nov. 30-Dec. 2

All events will have a $10,000 prize pool. Here's the breakdown:

  • First: $4,700

  • Second: $2,000

  • Third: $1,000

  • Fourth: $700

  • Fifth, sixth: $500

  • Seventh, eighth: $300