Intel and ESL have announced plans and prize pool details for two of the biggest combined events on the 2018 esports calendar, IEM Katowice and ESL One Katowice.
Katowice’s Spodek Arena and the adjacent International Conference Center will once again play host to ESL One Katowice powered by Intel® on February 24th to 25th, and Intel® Extreme Masters World Championship Katowice on March 2nd to 4th. These events will feature the world’s top teams and players in Dota 2, CS:GO and StarCraft II. In 2018 there’ll be a combined prize pool of $1.75m (£1.32m).
The esports-themed trade show, IEM Expo, will also return to the International Conference Center and take place during both weekends next year. The IEM Expo will see 8,000 square meters of exhibition space, featuring three esports stages, business center and Intel Experience Zone.
ESL One Katowice will be the first large-scale, international Dota event in Poland as well as the country’s first Dota 2 Major. The top sixteen teams globally, who will be selected through qualifiers held in six regions, will battle it out for a share of the $1 million (£759,000) prize pool and 1,500 points that will count towards the Dota 2 Pro Circuit 2017-2018.
The 2018 Grand Finals of IEM Katowice are set to be the biggest and the most lucrative IEM event in its history. IEM Katowice will once again crown the champions across CS:GO and StarCraft II, with the top CS:GO talent playing for the grandest prize pool in tournament history, with $500,000 (£379,000) up for grabs. Contenders in the StarCraft II competition meanwhile will battle it out for a $250,000 (£189,000) prize pool.
IEM Katowice will be the seventh event in the Intel® Grand Slam series, which will award a $1 million bonus prize to the first CS:GO team that wins four out of the last ten DreamHack or ESL events. FazeClan, G2 and SK Gaming are all in contention to claim this Intel Grand Slam.
Tickets for both ESL One Katowice and IEM Katowice will be available on Ticketmaster ‘from November’ and there’ll be more information coming in soon.
Esports Insider says: Dota coming to Katowice is big news as one of the world’s largest tournaments returns. It’s exciting stuff for esports fans, undoubtedly and will be one of the events of the year. We look forward to hearing more details in the near future.