Intel Extreme Masters Tournament Series

Intel Extreme Masters is one of the world's most recognised esports tournament series, which previously included both Counter-Strike and StarCraft II but moved to just the former in 2025.

Organised by Electronic Sports League (ESL) and sponsored by Intel, the IEM series is now synonymous with some of Counter-Strike 2's biggest and most prestigious LAN events, which are hosted across the globe, from Europe to North and South America, Asia, and Australia.

Intel Extreme Masters was introduced in 2006 when ESL partnered with Intel to expand the series, which started with a number of smaller tournaments across Europe.

The first Intel Extreme Masters was hosted in 2007 (IEM Season I) in Katowice, Poland. This city has since become synonymous with one of IEM's biggest and most prestigious events on the calendar.

As the years went on, Intel Extreme Masters expanded its lineup of games. Initially, the series included only a Counter-Strike 1.6 tournament and has since added Warcraft, World of Warcraft, Quake, Dota, League of Legends, Hearthstone, Overwatch, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and Fortnite.

The expansion, however, was not permanent, as IEM eventually retracted back to just StarCraft and Counter-Strike and, as of 2025, decided to include just Counter-Strike 2.

The format of Intel Extreme Masters tournaments has not remained static throughout the years and will likely see more changes in future seasons.

However, each event has its separate qualifiers, often online events, where esports teams compete for the right to attend LAN events hosted around the globe.

IEM Counter-Strike events are divided into three stages – the Play-In stage, the Group Stage, and the Playoffs. The top-rated teams get direct invites to the group stage, while the rest fight through the play-ins to proceed into the second stage.

From there, only the top six squads earn the privilege to compete on the big stage at some of the world's most recognisable venues, including the Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland, and the LANXESS Arena in Cologne, Germany.

Intel Extreme Masters events each offer separate pools, ranging from $300,000 to $1,000,000. The 2025 IEM season will offer a total prize pool of $2.9 million, divided among five LAN events.

While not open all year round, IEM markets tend to become available weeks before the start of tournaments.

As such, streams of IEM events are readily available on the official YouTube and Twitch channels and through live streaming services provided by the top betting sites.