ESA Winter 2024

February 17 - February 24

| 1300SEK – 1650SEK

Summary

ESA Winter 2024 is a week-long in-person speedrunning marathon, featuring speedrunners and score-attackers from all around the world. Our primary goal is raising money for our charity partner Make-A-Wish International. The event is held in the familiar conference space of the Quality Hotel View in Malmö (Sweden), just across the bridge of the large international Copenhagen airport.

Key Dates

Game Submission Guidelines & Chase Games

Game submissions are facilitated through oengus.io. Submit HERE!

Please read our full Submission Guidelines before submitting your showcase(s), even if you consider yourself already familiar with them. We often adapt and adjust these guidelines based on event experiences and feedback.

Traditional speedruns are and always will be the bulk of the event. However, we invite and urge you to think outside the box and submit unique showcases, feats of skill, community projects, or just silly fun. In the past years, some of these have not only created the most memorable moments of their respective events or even ESA history, but also raised a significant amount of donations.
We love these breaths of fresh air, and it’s always apparent to us when there’s a lot of thought and care put into any submission. If you have any questions about whether or not your idea for the event might work, don’t hesitate to reach out! More often than not, the answer will be yes, and we’ll go to great lengths to make things happen if we think it’s worth it.

Here’s our list of Chase Games that you will be able to submit between 11 – 13 December alongside other games that are currently unreleased:

  • Sonic Superstars – October 17
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder – October 20
  • Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – October 20
  • Ghostrunner 2 – October 26
  • Alan Wake 2 – October 27
  • The Talos Principle 2 – November 2
  • Super Mario RPG – November 17
  • Grand Poo World 3 – November 17

At ESA Winter 2024 we will only be accepting on-site commentary applications. Please prepare your submissions accordingly!

Ticket FAQ

Tickets may be purchased at register.esamarathon.com

Early Bird

1300 SEK (first three days of registration)

General Admission

1450 SEK

Late Registration

1650 SEK (less than 4 weeks to the event, and on-site)

Kids come free

Beginning with ESA Winter 2024, every registered parent or legal guardian may bring up to two of their own children (age 0-17) free of charge. In order to claim this offer the parent must register as usual and then email orgs@esamarathon.com for the child badges to be manually verified and issued.

Volunteers
  • Subject to the criteria in the section below, volunteers will receive a complimentary ticket
  • Volunteers may choose to buy in advance and receive a refund later or wait to be accepted
  • ESA recommends buying a ticket in advance as while admission is guaranteed the cut off dates for addons may pass
Runners
  • All runners are guaranteed a ticket
  • Runners must purchase and hold a full event ticket prior to the final schedule cut-off
  • Runners who are also volunteers will get a comp ticket per volunteer rules
General Admission
  • All multi-day attendees should pre-register at register.esamarathon.com
  • Single day attendees may pre-reserve a day ticket for 499 SEK (valid only during infodesk opening hours)

Hotel Booking

Rooms are available at Quality Hotel View, Malmö Arena Hotel and Scandic Triangeln.

Volunteering

Marathons like this one are impossible without the hard working volunteers behind them. Volunteers who are accepted will receive a complimentary ticket if they fulfill approximately 20 hours volunteering duties. For ESA Winter 2024 these teams will be looking for volunteers:

  • Fundraising (Host / Donation Screening): Be the voice of the marathon on stream and/or the helping hand in the background, screening all incoming donations.
  • Tech / Production: Bring on the show using our in-house tools and production equipment!
  • Marketing (Social Media & Video / Media): One team, two branches: Social Media prepares tweets for runs prior to the marathon and embellishes our social media presence during the event. The Video / Media branch of the Marketing team conducts and edits interviews with runners prior to the event and brings behind the scenes content to the people at home during it.
  • Infodesk: The first point of contact and a warm welcome for all attendees.
  • Scheduling: Help with maintaining our schedules, making key decisions and distributing information to other teams and our restream partners.
  • Chat Moderation: Make the chat a positive place and create a friendly atmosphere for everybody.

Volunteer Applications will run through the volunteer registration site from 4 November to 19 November. Applicants can expect a reply by the holidays.

Can volunteers be remote?

A number of teams such as Marketing (Social Media & Video / Media), Scheduling and Chat Moderation have responsibilities that can be carried out from home. Please read the role descriptions on the volunteering page to learn more about them.

Prize Submissions

Prizes are a great way to incentivize more donations towards a good cause. If you have something awesome you wish to give away in the name of charity, please send an e-mail to prizemaster@crew.esamarathon.com.

Travel

Hyllie Station, the first/last stop in Sweden, is attached to the hotel. Trains run directly to Copenhagen Airport and Denmark every 20 minutes (journey time to the airport 15 minutes), and to Malmö city centre every 10 minutes (journey time 10 minutes). The closest international airport is Copenhagen (Kastrup) which is a 15 minute direct train ride from the hotel. ESA attendees should not use Malmö airport, which is much further by bus and requiring a change in Malmö city centre. Those travelling by train via Germany should book DB Super Saver tickets as soon as possible, as these are the best value choice! To purchase your ticket for the train from Copenhagen to Malmö or vice versa, we recommend the Skånetrafiken App (Android / Apple). Hotel parking is available through P Malmö and is priced at a premium by the city to discourage travel by car. ESA recommends Aimo Park Mobilitetshus Solvkarteret for good value long term parking with no penalty for re-entry. It is located about 500m from the venue.

Travel Insurance

You should hold travel insurance to attend ESA to cover unforseen changes to your plans. ESA cannot guide you towards a single product as insurance is tailored to your country of residence and individual circumstances. However, we can advise you to examine closely the following clauses:

  • HEALTHCARE – The right to claim back healthcare costs incurred in the case of seeking medical help in Sweden.
  • CANCELLATION – The right to cancel your trip prior to departure and reclaim non-refundable expenses (such as the ESA ticket)
  • CURTAILMENT – The right to cancel your trip while it is in progress and reclaim expenses incurred in travelling home early.

European Citizens should also order and bring a European Health Insurance Card, as examinations and treatments covered by this card are not usually covered by private insurance.

Contact

Please direct all queries about the event, both personal and business/sponsorship to orgs@esamarathon.com

Event Sponsors