Intel Extreme Masters tournaments: consistently good or not?

The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is the world's longest-running global pro gaming tour. The start of the first competition organized by ESL was in 2006, these tournaments bring together the best players in the world in Counter-Strike:Global Offensive, StarCraft II and other eSports games. IEM has more than a decade of history and is considered one of the most prestigious and traditional events in the world. No one else can imagine another gaming season without IEM, especially in the CS:GO discipline. Cyber-sport.io prepared an interesting review of the story-way of IEM.

How did this tournament come about?

The start of a series of tournaments was put by the European Esports League. In 2006, the well-known large hardware and software company Intel decided to develop the European e-sports market, going beyond its borders, in particular to North America - this is how the Intel Extreme Masters project was developed, under the sponsorship of the company of the same name. 

By 2007, the IEM format was formed, it is a series of qualifying competitions, in which, in addition to cash prizes, quotas for the final part of the series are played, where the best of the best teams are given the opportunity to fight for a solid prize fund. Since 2008, the tournament has become international, in addition to Europe, players from North and South America, as well as from Asia, that is, from all over the world, take part in it. What is interesting is that the very first tournaments were held exclusively for games of the CS series, and only after a few seasons, 3 more games that are multiplayer were added to the tournament circle.

Quality and management

It would seem that this should become a key factor in holding any kind of events. The more and more often you spend them, the better you get. Once, having set the bar high and you should not lower it, does such a phrase fit the description of the IEM tournament series? We will be waiting for your analytics in the comments below the post.

Indeed, when you have been holding your own tournament for 15 years now, everything should be set up for everyone: from the work of operators to the tournament grid. If we take the general plan, then indeed, there are no general and global complaints about the organizers, but if we start to dive deeper, then they will be here, albeit in a small amount.

From the point of view of organizational issuses, IEM is doing well, or almost well, but according to the feedback from the teams, there was no criticism of IEM, even with regards to the technical part, our today's main characters are in perfect order. With the exception of this year: because repeatedly the players, namely s1mple was complaining about the terrible conditions of living in a hotel with ants and other insects. 

The administrators had a verbal skirmish with him on Twitter, accusing him of idle talk, although under the very first post several leading e-sportsmen nevertheless agreed with Alexander, but the conflict was soon resolved, and everyone was satisfied. Probably, being a professional player, it is most pleasant to play this particular tournament series because according to the comments of professionals it turns out that the absence of complaints makes itself felt, although maybe we just don’t want to open this curtain and all the critical moments remain on the other side of the screen.

Community's evaluation

However, putting yourself in the place of fans or ordinary fans to watch competitions of the best of the best, this is where the problems begin. Quite recently, ESL opened feedback on the Rio qualifiers, where all the fans could speak and share their impressions, both from the game and from organizational moments. Most of the fans immediately reclassified this post into a meme, because everyone understood that no one would change anything. Although there are those who openly praise the work of the organizers. Here is an example from one of the dissatisfied fans:

Stop doing this PR trash. You guys have been told a gazillion times about shit being broken on here and weren't able to fix that in over almost 2 months. This whole "we're listening to the community" is a meme at this point. Just fix it and stop coming to this sub for another PR campaign, you pretty much lost all trust on here. Nobody is gonna take this seriously

The tournament, which has been held for 15 years now and has gone through a lot, has long become a tradition of today's eSports. As for me, no matter how bad or good it is, it should still be carried out. What do you think, the upcoming Major in Rio will show a high level? Share your minds with Cyber-sport.io. Subscribe and follow the latest eSports news!