ESL’s record-breaking elite pro gaming tour, Intel Extreme Masters, has just announced that Katowice and „Spodek” are going to once again welcome the world’s best gamers. The event will take place in March 2015. It is going to be the third visit of IEM in Katowice.
Cologne, Taipei and Katowice are set to round off season nine. Having already stopped in Shenzhen and Toronto this season, with preparations in full swing for Intel Extreme Masters San Jose in the iconic American SAP Center, the final three locations confirm: six events in six different countries for the tour this season.
The first Intel Extreme Masters event in 2015 will take place in Taipei, the leading esports country in Southeast Asia, at the Taipei Game Show from 28th of January 28th to 1st of February.
The season will conclude with the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship on 12th – 15th of March 2015 in the Katowice’s „Spodek” arena. This IEM stop will be attended by eight League of Legends teams from North America, Europe and Asia (including the winners of each stop) and the best StarCraft II players of the season. The event will have over USD 200 000 in prize money.
Michal Blicharz, Managing Director Pro Gaming at ESL, is looking forward to the next stops in season nine of IEM: „It’s a massive milestone for us to go to two major sports arenas in one season. This is really shaping up to be the best Intel Extreme Masters season ever. I couldn’t be more excited about the rest of the tour!”
„I am very excited to bring the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship back to Poland” – says George Woo, Event and Sponsorships Program Manager Intel. „The passion of Polish fans is unparalleled. They help elevate our events to a whole new level.”
This year’s edition in Katowice gathered viewers from over 180 countries worldwide, which produced over 23 thousand video plays and consumed 12,6 million hours of video, nearly doubling the audience from last year’s IEM World Championship. The foot traffic amounted to 73 thousand people during the three-day event in „Spodek”.
Electronic Sports League (ESL) is world’s largest, independent eSports brand, leading the industry across various games with numerous online and offline competitions. This includes high profile international and national leagues and tournaments such as the Intel Extreme Masters. IEM is the elite global pro gaming tour since 2006 with over 4 million USD given out in prize money in eight seasons.