Intel says it would love to host an Intel Extreme Masters eSports event in the UK.
The firm is on the lookout for a show partner and would consider teaming up with ESL.
Intel and ESL already host two separate annual IEM events – one in the Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland, and the other in San Jose’s SAP Center.
George Woo, Intel’s brand partnerships and sponsorships marketing manager, told eSports News UK: “The UK, from a sales and grow opportunity for Intel, is a critical market.
“We have taken CPL (Cyberathlete Professional League) to the UK back in the day, in the old days, and we would love to bring IEM to the UK.
“It’s about partnerships – it’s expensive to do those things. But eventually we would love to bring it to the UK if we can find a partner, a show partner. It’s a strong market for Intel.
“We continue to look at the UK. If we can find a partner to get there, we will.”
George said it could potentially be a new Intel Extreme Masters event, separate from the company’s San Jose and Katowice shows, though he was also open to the idea of potentially moving the San Jose show to another venue. There’s also IEM Taipei.
“It opens up a whole different discussion – how do you select a location for IEM?” George added.
“Obviously Intel has its objectives, and it has to be a strong market for sales – a growth opportunity. But then ESL needs to step in and look at if there is feasibility. Are there strong partners? What’s the eSports community like?
“They have their checklist – and if everything works out, then we look at [bringing IEM to a new country]. That’s how it works.”
IEM Katowice sees more than 100,000 attendees through its doors, and George says that attendance has been ‘much bigger’ this year. There was more than one million online viewers last year.
Last October, Riot Games’ League of Legends World Championship quarter finals sold out in London’s Wembley SSE Arena across four days.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
