The below statement is from DrHappiness, Event Coordinator for EssentialsTF:

Hello, just wanted to give you a quick piece of information regarding recent news with the Insomnia Gaming Festival. As you may have heard, the organisers behind Insomnia – Player1 Events – have been subject to mass layoffs. Right now the owners of Player1 Events, Supernova Capital, have yet to make a statement on the future of Insomnia. From what it looks like right now, it appears that Insomnia as we understand it will not be continuing.

We at EssentialsTF have been discussing our involvement with Insomnia for a long while now, many years even, and despite this latest news we have been planning on suspending TF2 events at Insomnia for the near future. This is so we could explore options more suitable for the changing attitudes and approaches to LAN we have seen post-COVID and have been making progress on these ideas. In our ‘Future of EssentialsTF’ post we discussed our commitment to a LAN this year, but upon reflection with this latest news and knowledge of other events in the calendar it is likely that we will instead be looking at our next major LAN sometime in 2025. Given that Insomnia was one of the community’s most well-known events and had tremendous longevity, we want to ensure that whatever comes next meets the community’s expectations whilst also being sustainable, an event that we can return to year-on-year.

We are saddened to see the end of what has been an iconic and storied event for TF2, it was an opportunity to not only celebrate the game and the peak of competitive play we have all come to enjoy, but also a place to connect with old friends and make new ones. The memories of such events will be long-held and fondly remembered. Despite all of this, we remain optimistic to what the future holds.

Today we will be postponing signups for the Team Fortress 2 Insomnia 71 Online Open until next weekend, and will be adapting the format to have a more open structure.

It was clear from feedback with players that the dates and format clashed with other commitments people had, making it difficult for them to commit. Because of this we have adopted an alternative format where teams know their opponents in advance and can schedule their matches whenever they like, so long as all of their results are submitted by the deadline.

This gives the teams the freedom to control when they play whilst still ensuring a fair and balanced tournament. Because of this adaptation to the format, it was clear that we had to extend the duration of signups so teams have time to prepare and register.

For more details feel free to reach out over on the EssentialsTF Discord and the teamfortress.tv forum post.

DreamHack Beyond 2022: TF2
Site: Essentials.TF/Beyond
Organizers: EssentialsTF (Essentials.TF)
Dates: October 1st – 30th
Prize Pool: $4000 USD

Event Link: https://essentials.tf/beyond/

DreamHack & EssentialsTF are back again with a fantastic lineup of TF2 events as part of DreamHack Beyond – Season 3. 
With $4,000 of prizes available across October in three different events there’s something for everyone to get involved in!

Returning to this season is Beyond The Limit, the largest TF2 Jumping competition with total pool of $1,500 up for grabs,
and our TF2 Clip Challenge Twitter competition with $100 in prizes available!

Finally, a brand new feature for Beyond Season 3 is the latest issue of DreamHack TF2 Community Clash NA with a classic 6v6 tournament and a $2,400 prize pool to be won!

Links
Site: Lan.tf/i69
Twitter: @TF2Essentials (#i69 / #i69TF2)

Organisers
EssentialsTF (Essentials.TF)
Player1Events (Player1Events.com)

Insomnia69
Prize Pool: £5,000
Dates: 26th – 29th August
Location: NEC, Birmingham

After a pandemic induced 2 year break, Team Fortress 2 is coming back to Insomnia. In partnership with Player1 Events, EssentialsTF will be bringing the awesome TF2 event experience to Insomnia 69 in August this year. With a £5000 prize pool provided by Insomnia, this open BYOC tournament is one of the first chances the EU Team Fortress 2 community will have had in the last 3 years to compete offline.

Site: Clash.tf / Lan.tf
Organizers: EssentialsTF (Essentials.TF)

DreamHack TF2 Community Clash NA – $2500
Invite Qualifiers: 16th – 20th MAY 2022
Weekend A: 21st – 22nd MAY 2022
Weekend B: 28th – 29th MAY 2022

DreamHack Dallas TF2 – $2500
TF2: 3rd – 5th JUNE 2022 

DreamHack and EssentialsTF are continuing our partnership with even more awesome Team Fortress 2 experiences in 2022. With a $5000 USD total prize pool, this summer we’ll be hosting multiple tournaments and events. We’ll be at DreamHack Dallas on the BYOC Esport stage, and introducing the next installment of the DreamHack TF2 Community Clash series online, with more HUGE announcements to come!

DreamHack Beyond
Site: Clash.TF
Organizers: EssentialsTF (Essentials.TF)
Dates: July 24th – 31st
Prize Pool: $2000 USD

DreamHack & EssentialsTF are announcing three new competitions to take place during DreamHack Beyond from the 24th to the 31st of July. These events have a total prize pool of $2000, split and awarded differently between the three events. The DreamHack Beyond events won’t be a part of the TF2 Community Clash Series, but those aren’t going anywhere so watch this space!

The first of our Beyond events that we’re producing is DreamHack: Beyond The Limit – TF2.

DreamHack TF2 Community Clash NA
NA Weekend A: 1st – 2nd May
NA Weekend B: 8th – 9th May

DreamHack TF2 Community Clash EU
EU Weekend A: 12th – 13th June
EU Weekend B: 19th – 20th June

Site: Clash.TF
Organizers: EssentialsTF (Essentials.TF)

DreamHack & EssentialsTF are announcing two new events to take place in the first half of 2021. Much like Essentials’ last tournament, these will continue to be a part of DreamHack’s Community Clash Events. Each event will have a focus on a different region (NA and EU), and both will have individual prize pools of $2,400 USD. 

Each of the tournaments will be spread out over two weekends, and we’ll be releasing more information about the exact schedule of each tournament closer to the time. Both events will have their own Invite qualifiers, so we’ll be giving teams a chance to register their interest for those nearer the time as well. 

Future information about EssentialsTF and the event can be found on Clash.TF. This site will be kept up to date in the run up to and during the event, with both tournament and stream updates. You can also follow our Twitter to stay up to date for future announcements. If you have any questions or need more information regarding the event or EssentialsTF, please reach out via our email, or the EssentialsTF Discord.

DreamHack TF2 Community Clash
Dates: 14th – 15th November
Site: Clash.TF
Organizers: EssentialsTF (Essentials.TF)

EssentialsTF has announced that they’re partnering up with DreamHack; the premier gaming lifestyle festival, to run an online TF2 tournament on the 14th – 15th of November. The DreamHack TF2 Community Clash will have a prize pool of $2000 (~€1700), the largest seen from any TF2 event since Insomnia65 last year.

“Team Fortress 2 embodies what DreamHack is all about, a strong and dedicated community. We’ve always wanted to bring the DreamHack fans a TF2 focused event and who better to do that with than EssentialsTF. Growing this as part of a bigger TF2 focus through our festivals will be the goal.”
– Justin Burnham, Creative Director of Global Festivals, DreamHack