The time has come to unveil the next edition of Intel Extreme Masters! StarCraft II will once again return to the beating heart of esports in Katowice, Poland, where the world's best players will duke it out for a $500,000 prize! The event will take place from February 8 to 11, with a live audience gathered in the fan-favorite Auditorium of the International Conference Center (MCK). Ticket sales will begin on November 15, 2023, so don't hesitate, and mark your calendars now!

IEM SC2 Katowice 2024 will serve as the penultimate and largest standalone event in the ongoing season of ESL Pro Tour 2023/24. The journey to the EPT World Championship will continue with an additional ESL SC2 Masters season concluding at DreamHack Dallas, taking place from May 31 to June 2. While we are not ready to share the details of the EPT Championship just yet, rest assured - it will be bigger and more epic than ever! We can only say this: it will be a hot summer for StarCraft fans worldwide!

Tickets

Tickets for IEM SC2 Katowice 2024 will be available for sale on November 15, 2023, at 16:00 CET. Two types of tickets will be offered: Premium, which includes a full 4-day pass, the best seats in the Auditorium, a goodie bag, and free drinks (beer included), and Regular, available in two variants: 1-day and 4-day. Moreover, free seats will be available to IEM Expo attendees on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Format & dates

IEM SC2 Katowice 2024 will become a battleground for the world's 24 best players. Five of them have already been invited. Joining the reigning World Champion, Li "Oliveira" Peinan, will be the current Summer Regionals Champions of the EU and AM, Joona “Serral” Sotala and Maxwell “Astrea” Angel, as well as the winners of this year's GSL Code S Seasons: Cho “Maru” Seong-ju and Kang "Solar" Min-soo. The remaining three invitees will be determined later this November after the conclusion of ESL SC2 Masters 2023 Winter. Should we end up with a repeated winner, their slot will be put back into the upcoming Qualifiers.

The remaining 16 slots will be distributed during the Qualifiers in December. There will be 3 slots up for grabs in the Americas, 7 in Asia, and 6 in Europe. Server Qualifiers will begin on December 5 and conclude on December 10.

Regional slot distribution

IEM SC2 Katowice 2024 - qualifier schedule:

• Asia Server Open Qualifier - December 5 - 19:00 KST
• Asia Server Closed Qualifier - December 6 - 19:00 KST
• Europe Server Open Qualifier - December 7 - 19:00 CET
• Europe Server Closed Qualifier - December 8 - 19:00 CET
• Americas Server Open Qualifier - December 9 - 19:00 EST
• Americas Server Closed Qualifier - December 10 - 19:00 EST

For more information about the upcoming Qualifiers, please visit the official tournament page.

Prize pool distribution

*As is tradition for IEM Katowice, the group stage will once again feature additional incentives. However, this year the contestants will receive an extra $500 for each victory, compared to last year’s bounty of $300 per win.

Additionally, the top four will secure themselves a spot in the upcoming EPT Championship event later this year.

Where to watch

IEM SC2 Katowice 2024 can be watched either live in the well-known MCK Auditorium in Katowice, or online on Twitch and YouTube. To keep up with the action, follow ESL SC2 on X (formerly Twitter) and on Facebook!