The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is a group of international esports tournaments held in many countries worldwide. These events, approved by the Electronic Sports League (ESL) and sponsored by Intel, currently host competitions for Counter-Strike 2 as of 2025. In the past, other games such as StarCraft II and League of Legends were also played. The company that owns the IEM is called Savvy Games Group. By 2023, the league had completed 17 seasons. The top-level events, called Masters Championships, take place in the summer in Cologne, Germany, and during the new year in Poland. These events offer the largest prizes. Other events, known as Masters events, are held in many cities around the world, including Dallas, Shanghai, and Sydney.

History

The Intel Extreme Masters are organized by ESL. In 2006, after the Intel-sponsored European tournament found opportunities to grow beyond Europe, especially in North America, Intel funded a global tournament and named it the Intel Extreme Masters. In 2007, the IEM introduced a format with smaller qualifying events leading to a large final event held at CeBIT. All Grand Finals have been held at CeBIT. Starting in 2008, the tournament was described as worldwide, with participants from Europe, North America, and Asia. Initially, only Counterstrike 1.6 was offered in the first season, but the number of games increased over time. By Season 5, four games were available. World of Warcraft was included in Season 4 but was removed for Season 5. The Season 5 Finals will be held at CeBIT and will include a US$130,000 prize pool.

Games offered in the Intel Extreme Masters include: Counter-Strike (Seasons 1–6), Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos and Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne (Seasons 1–2, 3: Asian Championship Finals — CS1.6 and Asian Championship Finals — WoW, 4: Global Challenge Chengdu, 5: Global Challenge Shanghai), World of Warcraft (Seasons 2: Global Challenge Dreamhack, 3–4), Quake Live (Seasons 4–5), StarCraft II (Seasons 5–6), and League of Legends (LoL) (Seasons 5: World Championship (LoL Invitational), 6).

Format

IEM uses many offline qualifiers. During Season 5, qualifiers were held for the North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia regions. Players who qualify for the finals are divided into two groups of six. The top two players from each group move forward. The player who wins each group goes directly to the semifinals. The players who finish in second and third place in each group compete in the quarterfinals.

Organisation

The Intel Extreme Masters are managed by ESL, which is a part of the ESL FACEIT Group. This group is owned by Savvy Games Group, a company located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Savvy Games Group is owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).