Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
League of Legends
StarCraft II
Intel® Extreme Masters goes into anniversary season
with Counter-Strike®: Global Offensive
ESL, the world’s largest esports company, and Intel today announced the tenth season of the longest running global esports tournament series, the Intel Extreme Masters. The elite pro gaming tour is set to bring together professional computer game players in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, StarCraft® II and League of Legends for several events across three different continents.
A decade of the Intel Extreme Masters elite pro gaming tour marks the return of Counter-Strike, which was a staple of the global competition series up until its sixth season. Michal Blicharz, Managing Director of Pro Gaming at ESL, said the following of the game’s return: “The success and the legacy of the Intel Extreme Masters was partly built on Counter-Strike and it’s a great feeling to go into the tenth season of the circuit with CS:GO back in it. Adding a third game makes this IEM season the largest in years!”
This year’s Intel Extreme Masters will also feature Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II, returning for the sixth year. Blizzard’s games have been a part of the Intel Extreme Masters tournament series for all 10 seasons, beginning with Warcraft® III competition during its inaugural season. Publisher and developer Riot Games' MOBA League of Legends will also feature in season ten of the elite pro gaming tour. A vital component of the action since its debut in August 2011, the game celebrates its fifth year as part of the Intel Extreme Masters.
This year’s Intel Extreme Masters stops will include:
IEM Shenzhen, China (July 16-20) at the Shenzhen Cartoon and Animation Festival
IEM Cologne, Germany (August 5-9) at gamescom
IEM San Jose, USA (November 21-22) at the SAP Center
IEM Cologne, Germany (December 2015) at the ESL Arena
IEM Asia stop, event details to be announced at a later date
IEM Katowice World Championship in Poland (March 2016) at Spodek
All of the stops in the tenth Intel Extreme Masters season will take place in familiar territories. The season will open in China for the third consecutive year at the Shenzhen and Cartoon Animation Festival (July 16-20). Following that, the IEM will come back to gamescom in Cologne (August 5-9) for the third IEM event ever at the world’s largest gaming show. November will see the tournament series return to the SAP Center in San Jose (November 21-22), the venue of the most successful North American IEM event ever. The event will be the eighth IEM event in the US since the tour began in 2006, with San Jose to be followed by an event at the ESL Arena at the ESL studios in Cologne (December 2015).
The last two events of the season will take place in 2016. One of them will be held at a still-to-be-announced IEM stop in South East Asia. The final event will be the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in Katowice, Poland. This will be IEM’s third World Championship and a fourth event overall in Katowice. The 2015 event was the world’s most-watched esports event of all time on Twitch. The final of the tenth season will be expanded even further to make it the largest event in ESL history.
IEM Shenzhen
July 16-20
Cartoon and Animation Festival
IEM Cologne
August 5-9
Gamescom
IEM San Jose
November 21-22
SAP Center
IEM Cologne
December 2015
ESL Arena
IEM Asia
To be announced
at a later date
IEM Katowice WC
March 2016
Spodek
Road to Season 10
Events
IEM has seen a total of 56 events held across the globe. Each event gathered passionate players and viewers alike to deliver the best esports has to offer. With each season, IEM has grown larger and larger and we look forward to an amazing tenths Season as we celebrate a decade of IEM.
25 Cities
From Los Angeles to Taipei, IEM visited 25 different cities across three continents.
1,000+ players
Thousands of professional players participated in the IEM events to show off their skills and passion for gaming.
379,823 KM
Over the last 9 seasons IEM traveled 379,823 km, that equals going around the world 9,478 times.
We are proud of these numbers
Pictures
Years of competition have brought with them many unforgettable moments and pictures. Below are some of our favorites from the many many galleries of past events!
