Annual Club Incentive Update - Post IEM Atlanta

Following the conclusion of IEM Atlanta we’re today bringing an update to this year’s Annual Club Incentive.

As per usual, the ranking is updated based on viewership data from Esports Charts. The 16 teams in attendance have been ranked based on their average concurrent viewers of the Group Stage.

From the 16 teams in attendance, the top 12 ranked teams based on average concurrent viewers were awarded viewership points based on the points matrix.

IEM AtlantaViewership placement

Posição
Team Name
Average CCV
Viewership points
1
BC.Game Esports
344,059
12
2
Team Vitality
277,157
12
3
FaZe Clan
149,848
12
4
Natus Vincere
137,967
12
5
BetBoom Team
131,017
9
6
B8 Esports
99,994
9
7
GamerLegion
92,266
9
8
paiN Gaming
89,697
9
9
Legacy
84,938
6
10
Passion UA
76,892
6
11
Team Liquid
72,033
6
12
Astralis
70,735
6
13
FUT Esports
58,644
0
14
NRG Esports
57,276
0
15
Sinners Esports
38,181
0
16
M80
35,255
0

IEM Atlanta was the fourth event of the year contributing to the 2026 Annual Club Incentive. The event distributed 108 viewership points, out of the 720 points available in 2026. With four events concluded, the Event Multiplier continues favouring those teams who consistently attended our events.

Following their decision to skip IEM Atlanta, Team Spirit has recorded three tournament declines during the 2025–2026 period, having previously skipped IEM Melbourne and IEM Dallas in 2025.

Under the Ecosystem Agreement, this triggers forfeiture of their 2026 Annual Club Incentive. The relevant rule states:

  • "If the Team exceeds the allowed number of tournament declines permitted under Clause 4(a) of this agreement, the Team shall forfeit its Annual Club Incentive for the calendar year in which the declines occurred. To the extent that the points accumulated prior to such date are enough to award the Team a share of the Annual Club Incentive, then such amount shall not be reabsorbed into the Annual Club Incentive and so will not be distributed to any other Teams otherwise."

This results in the following updates to the 2026 Annual Club Incentive:

  • Prior to the IEM Atlanta skip, Team Spirit was tied for first place in the ACI standings following IEM Rio, holding a projected share of $420,550.
  • With Team Spirit's forfeit from the 2026 ACI, their $420,550 allocation has been deducted from the overall ACI distribution calculations.
  • Team Spirit will no longer be eligible to earn or receive ACI rewards for the remainder of the 2026 season and will not be factored into future ACI standings, regardless of tournament placements or viewership contributions.
  • Team Spirit will be eligible for the ACI reward again in 2027, their attendance/skipping events in 2026 will count towards 2027 ACI.

Based on this update and the IEM Atlanta results, the new standings for the Annual Club Incentive are as follows.

June 1, 2026Annual Club Incentive

Posição
Team
Total
Viewership Points
Events
Attended
Total
Points
Total
Points Share
Share
1
Natus Vincere
43
4
172
16.6%
$452,715
2
B8 Esports
25.5
4
102
9.8%
$268,470
2
FURIA
34
3
102
9.8%
$268,470
4
Team Vitality
30
3
90
8.7%
$236,886
5
G2 Esports
27
3
81
7.8%
$213,197
6
FaZe Clan
23
3
69
6.7%
$181,612
7
MOUZ
20
3
60
5.8%
$157,924
8
Legacy
13
4
52
5.0%
$136,867
9
Astralis
16.5
3
49.5
4.8%
$130,287
10
Team Liquid
12
4
48
4.6%
$126,339
10
Passion UA
12
4
48
4.6%
$126,339
12
BC.Game Esports
20
2
40
3.9%
$105,283
13
Team Falcons
18
2
36
3.5%
$94,754
14
3DMAX
10.5
3
31.5
3.0%
$82,910
15
PARIVISION
14.5
2
29
2.8%
$76,330
16
paiN Gaming
9
3
27
2.6%
$71,066
17
The MongolZ
13
2
26
0.0%
$0
18
Aurora
6
3
18
0.0%
$0
18
GamerLegion
9
2
18
0.0%
$0
20
RED Canids
9
1
9
0.0%
$0
20
BetBoom Team
9
1
9
0.0%
$0
22
HOTU
6
1
6
0.0%
$0
23
NRG Esports
0
3
0
0.0%
$0
23
FUT Esports
0
3
0
0.0%
$0
23
Ninjas in Pyjamas
0
2
0
0.0%
$0
23
M80
0
2
0
0.0%
$0
23
HEROIC
0
2
0
0.0%
$0

The Annual Club Incentive concludes end-of-year 2026 and is paid out in Q1 of 2027 to the top 16 teams in the standings. Full details about how the Annual Club Incentive is calculated can be found aqui.

Up next is the IEM Cologne Major 2026, which will see 32 teams in competition. Viewership for the ACI update will be based on Stage 1-3, for whichever teams have the highest average viewership, though only one entry per team. We'll provide a new update to the standings after its conclusion.

Outro

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