IEM Katowice with $250,000+ pool

11-11-2015 12:00

IEM Katowice 2016 will have over $250,000 on offer for Counter-Strike teams, ESL's Vice-president for Pro Gaming Michal Blicharz has revealed.

The tenth Intel Extreme Masters season will come to a close with a big event in Katowice, Poland, in early 2016 that will give away over $450,000 across all tournaments.

A minimum of $250,000 has been guaranteed for the CS:GO competition alone, but the figure will increase even further as ESL will turn to crowdfunding, Blicharz revealed on Twitter.

The #IEM WC I'm Katowice will have over $450,000 in prize money, incl. $250,000 for CS:GO. Prize funding will come on top.
— Michal Blicharz (@mbCARMAC) 11 novembro 2015

This is likely to generate one of the largest prize pools in Counter-Strike history but it also could mean that ESL will host the tournament in Katowice without the support from Valve.

Last month, DreamHack director Tomas Lyckedal revealed that the company hoped to bring a CS:GO major to Stockholm during the first half of 2016 but added that Valve has so far remained silent on its event plans for the year.

NOICE

2015-11-11 12:01

17 replies

no volvo=no drop, no drop=150k viewers.

2015-11-11 13:11

15 replies

no drop means no retards who just wait for drops and more skilled csgo fans who enjoys the game and dont care how many ppl watch the game. go get a job and buy yourself drops if u care about those.

2015-11-11 13:22

10 replies

"more skilled csgo fans" thah made me laugh :D

2015-11-11 13:33

5 replies

well he meant people who watch the game for the fun of it .. not just for drops

2015-11-11 14:35

1 reply

No, he meant people with more csgo skill/knowledge than just random silver 23 year old kids who are there only for "OHMYGOOOOD FREE SKINS IMMA BE RICH"...and yes, we who enjoy watching good games as u said:)

2015-11-11 16:10

g l o b a l v i e w e r s

2015-11-11 15:37

2015-11-11 19:45

2015-11-12 01:54

well id love to have stickers of teams not souvernir cases.

2015-11-11 13:53

2015-11-12 00:58

the scene will grow more with more viewers aka bots... this is a good thing bcuz it will be on top of every streaming website

2015-11-12 01:45

no retards why type !drop in chat thinking it's gonna make them have a souvenir case

2015-11-12 15:34

2015-11-11 14:42

+1 75% viewers are ppl 4 drops. no drops Csgo no more 150k viewers

2015-11-11 14:47

2 replies

Considering some of the non major tournaments have had at least over 350,000 viewers, your statement is ridiculously incorrect.

2015-11-11 17:16

1 reply

agreed

2015-11-11 19:00

no circle, no triangle, no rectangle, no star sticker please !

2015-11-11 14:09

wopw

2015-11-11 12:02

lmao amazon sponsor

2015-11-11 12:02

Nice

2015-11-11 12:02

YAY

2015-11-11 12:02

cool i guess

2015-11-11 12:02

HYPE

2015-11-11 12:02

noooooice

2015-11-11 12:02

2015-11-11 12:03

NICE

2015-11-11 12:03

great

2015-11-11 12:03

nice im hyped

2015-11-11 12:03

LOL

2015-11-11 12:04

inb4 this is a part of their exclusivity plan ayyy

2015-11-11 12:04

NICE

2015-11-11 12:05

Hope it will be valvesponsored aswell

2015-11-11 12:05

MAJOR?

2015-11-11 12:05

1 reply

no hablo englando?

2015-11-11 21:46

Wouldn't be surprised if they get 1/3 of the viewers cause no drops :D

2015-11-11 12:05

3 replies

Thats exactly whats gonna happen

2015-11-11 12:16

Esl dubai rip

2015-11-11 13:07

1 reply

well yeah but it was organised like shit so you can't blame it all on the drops

2015-11-11 13:24

It's gonna be a major?

2015-11-11 12:05

I'm Katowice hype

2015-11-11 12:06

FUCKING nice ,it will be the best major of cs

2015-11-11 12:06

23 replies

if its not valve sponsored it won't be a major tho;(

2015-11-11 12:18

22 replies

fuck off with that logic.. you have the best teams, extremely good production quality, big prize money and you won't call this a major? Fucking volvo-skin-whore dipshit.

2015-11-11 12:27

19 replies

would you call dubai major? im just asking...im not saying that you are wrong in that comment at all but you cant call every tournament with high prize money a major either

2015-11-11 12:28

13 replies

The thing is, no one called dubai a major. This IEM tourney is in a whole other ball game.

2015-11-11 12:33

10 replies

noone? we both know that it isnt true at all.pretty big part of community on hltv called it major,just like esl esea pro league... but my point wanst how many people considered these tournaments as a majors.my point is where would be the line what major is and what major isnt in general

2015-11-11 12:36

9 replies

That's the point. We don't really have any standard or definition for a MAJOR tournament. How is Cologne a major for example with the same prize money same teams same production quality, yet Katowice isn't. Because Valve isn't one of the sponsors? That's just really silly to even think about, how one sponsor can determine whether the tournament is a major or not. I'm just really pissed off when people say it is not a major if valve isn't sponsoring it. Back in 1.6 a major was a tournament consisting of top seeded teams fighting for the top1 spot for the year.

2015-11-11 12:45

8 replies

yes i agree with everything what you just wrote but back to my first question.do you consider dubai as a major? (i dont) btw valve isnt only a sponsor,he is also the owner so its rly questionable

2015-11-11 12:48

7 replies

Tbh it should be, what is the difference? Crowd wise even an arab country had way more crowd than the recent cluj But I guess the difference is the stickers, drops and such

2015-11-11 13:07

3 replies

i dont collect skins so i actually couldnt care less about drops but for majority its important.same goes for stickers. but for me the biggest reason is that cluj was an invitational tournament.that format is,atleast for me,unacceptable for major tournaments.there should be qualifications all over the world for every team out there which want to participate in it.there should be diversity in teams composition and not just invite lets say top8 teams in the world.in current state of the scene,there would be only EU teams.this is the main reason for me why dubai wasnt even close to major(my personal opinion ofc)

2015-11-11 13:11

2 replies

You misplaced Dubai with Cluj

2015-11-11 14:58

1 reply

yea sorry,my bad.ofc that i did mean dubai.jesus i did the same thing in post 109:D thanks

2015-11-11 15:11

I didnt have time to watch that tournament so don't know who played, production quality and that kind of stuff. Valve was the owner of 1.6 too so that shouldn't really matter that much imo. I guess everyone has different idea of what should a major look like, and i feel like we need a general standard or definition like I said earlier.

2015-11-11 13:09

2 replies

yea agree with you...but if you want to know my opinion about cluj,just read #108.that tournament was great for me as a spectator,no doubt about that but...well just read that post if you want:)

2015-11-11 13:13

*edit i did mean dubai ofc,not cluj:)

2015-11-11 15:11

close to major but still it wasn't Only 8 teams attended ESL Dubai - yes it was packed so hard with current top8 in the world but still only 8 teams. I'm sure for the players it was a huge tournament but not a major "major".

2015-11-11 14:00

1 reply

yes that was exactly my point.i dont think that dubai was major just like you but where would be the line and who should decide which tournament major is and which isnt...

2015-11-11 14:02

But without valve the teams will still get less money in the end.

2015-11-11 12:47

Without pgl camera man = without me

2015-11-11 12:58

Cologne was without Valve support and it was still one of the best Majors.

2015-11-11 14:39

2 replies

Both Cologne tournaments were supported by Valve.

2015-11-11 19:32

1 reply

Valve only was there to support and add stickers. Moneywise prize was from ESL.

2015-11-11 22:09

it's*

2015-11-11 12:29

why not? because there won't be stupid pickem challenge, stickers, drops and other silly things? if it will have same 8 teams from Cluj-Napoca - it will be a major, at least for the players :)

2015-11-11 13:55

same story as Cologne. Firstly Cologne 2015 org said that Cologne will have 250.000 e without valve support. I hope valve will add 250k + stickers

2015-11-11 12:07

Finally over 250k

2015-11-11 12:08

5 replies

no, its 250k for csgo again and another 200k for other games at the event i think

2015-11-11 12:10

4 replies

A minimum of $250,000 has been guaranteed for the CS:GO competition alone, but the figure will increase even further as ESL will turn to crowdfunding

2015-11-11 12:11

1 reply

o i c ty

2015-11-11 12:34

Nope 250k is start money and crowdfunding will add to it

2015-11-11 12:12

1 reply

ty for explaining, i misunderstood what they said

2015-11-11 12:34

2015-11-11 12:08

Must be major because it's last iem in the seasson.

2015-11-11 12:09

2 replies

last? why is that?

2015-11-11 14:01

1 reply

Last in "season" 2k15/ 2k16

2015-11-11 20:53

Good job!

2015-11-11 12:10

FUCKIN HYPE!!!

2015-11-11 12:10

So, it will be the first tournament with a prizepool higher than 250.000$. Still not a major, kids?

2015-11-11 12:10

7 replies

Will probably become a major do 500k minimum + crowdfunding

2015-11-11 12:15

Cologne 2015 story was the same

2015-11-11 12:16

majors arent only about how big prize many is(just saying)

2015-11-11 12:27

4 replies

i agree, they're also about many fake viewers begging for drops ESL ESEA gives away 500.000$ during seasons, still no major?

2015-11-11 12:35

3 replies

you probably missunderstood my point a little bit.i have nothing against non-valve sponsored majors but there are,atleast for me,other criterias for majors,not only how big prize money is.as simple as that... for example dubai wasnt major for me,not even close to it even tho that it had big prize money and i enjoyed that tournaments as a spectator

2015-11-11 12:38

2 replies

Dubai wasnt major and nobody is saying that was. It was invitational. Definition of major is strange because for example it requires 16 teams and lets be clear: always world's top8 reach playoffs anyway. Rest of teams just fill others torunaments spots. Personally i prefered format like dubai where only top teams attend and it makes torunament more interesting and exiting to watch. I prefer watch VP vs TSM than TSM vs F3 or even worse team.

2015-11-11 15:41

1 reply

a lot of people claimed that both dubaj and esl esea pro league were majors man.i do remember these fights and how many topics were about it. and do you rly want to claim after cluj,that "always world's top8 reach playoffs anyway"? what about g2 and their performance? lg? or c9 and their 3 tournaments streak? majors just shouldnt be invitational.i dont see single reason for it.why other teams shouldnt have a chance to participate there? makes no sense at all.its actually one of the criteria for me aswell,teams diversity.

2015-11-11 15:49

nice

2015-11-11 12:11

#hype

2015-11-11 12:12

Where does it say that funding will be for CS:GO? 250k for cs again and 200k for other shits.

2015-11-11 12:12

5 replies

A minimum of $250,000 has been guaranteed for the CS:GO competition alone, but the figure will increase even further as ESL will turn to crowdfunding

2015-11-11 14:02

4 replies

And? Read again this tweet and tell me where did he say that cs will be crowdfunded.

2015-11-11 14:57

3 replies

ur mum

2015-11-11 17:51

2 replies

nt dad

2015-11-11 17:57

1 reply

nt uncle

2015-11-12 20:01

next up: iBuyPower ban lifted, Skadoodle leaves Cloud9 to rejoin is previous teammates to become future champions.

2015-11-11 12:13

5 replies

too bad swag is in c9

2015-11-11 12:45

4 replies

in all seriousness swag was my favourite player of the 5. so young and has so much talent, its a shame he got caught up in the mess. so much potential.

2015-11-11 12:50

3 replies

got caught up in that mess? so tired of reading that kinda shit it's his own fault he threw.

2015-11-11 15:46

2 replies

He got caught up in the greed. Thats what i meant.

2015-11-12 02:28

1 reply

oh, that makes more sense :)

2015-11-12 08:13

HYPE HYPE

2015-11-11 12:13

Now give 32 team event dobbel eleminaten bracket bo3 and bo1 and several streams/ gotv

2015-11-11 12:15

3 replies

why not 64 team event

2015-11-11 12:31

2 replies

128 should be the minimum amount of team. inb4 there aren't even that many teams. Kappa

2015-11-11 13:32

cuz i find it realy unrealistic sadly in GO

2015-11-11 15:34

The hype train will arrive shortly, please step away from the line as the train approaches. Katwoice has always been the best.

2015-11-11 12:15

1 reply

always love it when Katwoice is near

2015-11-11 12:54

HYPE IS REAL HOPE VALVE JOIN WITH MORE 250K TO MAKE THIS MAJOR

2015-11-11 12:17

Yeah better prizepool !! now we need a good format VOLVO AND ESL PLEASE

2015-11-11 12:25

major in france when?

2015-11-11 12:28

Finally

2015-11-11 12:29

not a major it's not valve's sponsor

2015-11-11 12:29

2 replies

yet, cologne 2k15 flashback, same story

2015-11-11 12:33

so the major tournaments its only if valve sponsors? THAT LOGIC LOL

2015-11-11 17:58

want more than 250k pay for it, lel, wow so nice from esl

2015-11-11 12:29

Yus

2015-11-11 12:32

Nice

2015-11-11 12:32

2015-11-11 12:33

NICEE!!!!

2015-11-11 12:34

valve won't add anything, like last time, they don't give a fuck.

2015-11-11 12:34

volvo, plz +250k

2015-11-11 12:36

no volvo support equals no sticker or am i trippin?

2015-11-11 12:37

2 replies

yes, but probably valve will join soon

2015-11-11 12:42

1 reply

i hope so ;d

2015-11-11 12:43

nice stickers plz

2015-11-11 12:38

1 reply

No Valve = no stickers, no drops, no signatures, no Pick'Em.

2015-11-11 19:35

n1ce kurwa!

2015-11-11 12:49

cu in katowice once again ~_^

2015-11-11 12:51

7 replies

Lucky af ;_;

2015-11-11 13:10

6 replies

you are right at some point, but still, being there surrounded by VP retarded fans is not something cool :P

2015-11-11 13:28

5 replies

Or izak fans xDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

2015-11-11 13:48

so your friends, family and others are retarded VP/izak fans? that's not cool m8 or maybe you live on hltv?

2015-11-11 14:06

3 replies

no, but there are few of my friends and tons of vp fanbitches

2015-11-11 14:23

2 replies

well, I'm not in school anymore so I don't have to deal with such element xD

2015-11-11 14:24

1 reply

I am talking about spodek during IEM Katowice, and not about my life lol

2015-11-11 17:46

Ouuuu Yes baby! Katowice 4ever!!!

2015-11-11 12:53

omg

2015-11-11 12:58

Prague > Katowice

2015-11-11 13:02

Another dead ass event.

2015-11-11 13:02

valve is shit. PLEASE LEARN WITH RIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2015-11-11 13:03

katowice best

2015-11-11 13:06

ESL>dreamhack for sure valve don't screw it up pls

2015-11-11 13:07

maybe good but no drops so its gona be like 1/4 or maybe 1/5 viewers

2015-11-11 13:10

2015-11-11 13:15

Too bad not a major

2015-11-11 13:29

6 replies

Well how would you determine what is a major? By the prize pool? Or by Vulva being in? Of course it is a major if they have the biggest prize pool ever.

2015-11-11 13:43

because no drops and stupid pickem challenge? :<

2015-11-11 14:07

4 replies

So for example FIFA Confederations Cup, with best teams in the world > FIFA World Cup? Kek, major = tournament with huge qual + at least 16 teams and yes with hype elements like stickers or drops.

2015-11-11 16:46

3 replies

yyy? what? I don't follow your logic lmao ESL Katowice 16 will have 16 teams like previous IEM in 2015. So, you have the best 8 from Cluj-Napoca, 8 teams from qualifications, more than $250k but without volvo support. who cares about stickers and drops?

2015-11-11 17:33

2 replies

but u said that Dubai was a major dude, major need 16 teams with huge quals

2015-11-11 22:15

1 reply

where? pls quote me m8

2015-11-12 00:13

My penis has been waiting for this!

2015-11-11 13:33

valve always silent

2015-11-11 13:43

yay ! iem katowice with 50+ cheaters then :'D

2015-11-11 14:14

first romania than poland ...

2015-11-11 14:19

3 replies

Katowice 2014 - 2015

2015-11-11 15:40

2 replies

zehcro bren azcepted from keabeea muslm.

2015-11-11 15:42

1 reply

At least im not afraid of showing my flag

2015-11-11 16:56

Would be better if valve made a katowice case worth 3$ that you can buy and directly open, and the case would contain a couple of cool skins. If all the money would go towards the prize pool you can get up to 5 million for sure.

2015-11-11 14:21

1 reply

Valve doesn't care about CSGO

2015-11-11 14:39

Valve without Katowice is just shit, they will lose a lot of money ;)

2015-11-11 14:25

Valve can't pass this, they will support it just like Cologne. 500K prizepool?!

2015-11-11 14:29

time for Virtus Pro

2015-11-11 14:32

nicee

2015-11-11 15:09

20 km from my city, gonna be there <3

2015-11-11 15:27

1 reply

nice to know cuz then imma stay home

2015-11-11 15:35

Inb4 volvo just noticed they could do some compendium shit for IEM Katowice and it broke 20 mil because more donation = more skins

2015-11-11 15:45

the 8th major with only $250 000 ... time to rise mb?

2015-11-11 15:49

3 replies

I am starting to think that it's some kind of a tradition xD when does it say that a major has to have 250k? it can be bigger :D

2015-11-11 16:00

1 reply

hltv.org/?pageid=18&threadid=949440#r124..

2015-11-11 16:04

+1 and need more drops XD !

2015-11-11 17:35

yes it can! mb they r greedy? xD

2015-11-11 16:03

IBP to win

2015-11-11 16:05

Too bad there will be no Thorin because ESL suck massive cock

2015-11-11 16:06

4 replies

who cares about this ginger ?? lol

2015-11-11 17:13

If he wasn't assburger insulting everyone for heheleletrolbanter then he would be in ESL events.

2015-11-11 18:37

2 replies

He could be in esl events but he doesn't want to because ESL is a terrible company

2015-11-12 07:26

1 reply

sure m8, he probably cries to this day that he was kicked

2015-11-12 11:25

Sticker with team logo only pls, ty.

2015-11-11 16:37

simle win :) no drop no fun only beting :)

2015-11-11 17:00

250k so low katowice...

2015-11-11 17:20

unexpected prizepool

2015-11-11 17:27

Noice

2015-11-11 17:46

young money cash money

2015-11-11 18:01

katowice is good

2015-11-11 18:25

hype

2015-11-11 18:35

hype

2015-11-11 18:37

"but it also could mean that ESL will host the tournament in Katowice without the support from Valve." Great, make more majors in Romania or other cs unrelated countries.

2015-11-11 18:39

I told you no major. gg

2015-11-11 19:35

gg third worlders lol inb4 all polka hate

2015-11-11 19:39

Very nice, but fuck esl

2015-11-11 20:49

You guys do realise that just because valve have not confirmed they are sponsoring it less than 24 hours after it has been announced does not mean it won't end up being sponsored and a major, they will either sponsor this or this DH event, it will probably come down to largest prize pool tbh, so either they will sponsor this or we get a super good, big prize pool DH Major

2015-11-11 22:30

2 replies

so both orgs are sucking volvo cock at the moment to get valve

2015-11-12 03:00

1 reply

yeh probably lol

2015-11-12 10:26

Hype boys

2015-11-12 00:59

2 replies

no major anyway. no hype

2015-11-12 02:01

1 reply

Cuz no stickers? Kappa IMO last major was bad. I think IEM will be better than cluj.

2015-11-12 20:22

best event incoming boizzzz

2015-11-12 10:31

If they do not do the crowd funding in collaboration with Valve it won't work too well. People would just be donating money for pretty much nothing. Of course some people still will donate and the price pool will go up but if the players were given some item by Valve (like in Dota) when they fund the pool, many many more people would participate in the funding. I hope they will work with Valve and make some item which you can buy and a percentage of that item's price will go to the price pool. If not, rip drops, rip funding items, rip viewers. Just another tournament with 200k views during the grand final. The only twist would be that the tournament would have a bit bigger price pool this time.

2015-11-12 11:56