Intel Extreme Masters 2011/12 World Championship – 643,000 US Dollar in the prize money of the league – ESL TV viewership record broken again – Over 250,000 visitors
Cologne, March 15, 2012 – On March 6 – 10 at CeBIT in Hanover 144 of the world’s best professional gamers competed for the title of the World Champion in the Intel Extreme Masters tournament. Apart from the title, the winners received a share of 283,000 US Dollar, a piece of 643,000 USD, which was the total prize money of the league in season 2011/12.
The champions in Counter-Strike 1.6, StarCraft II and League of Legends were determined in front of a large audience gathered in the Intel Extreme Masters Hall (hall 23) at CeBIT 2012 in Hanover, Germany. More than 250,000 visitors attended the event throughout all five days of the competition. The gaming television ESL TV, in co-operation with TwitchTV, set another milestone in the history of eSports. The tournament was broadcasted live in eight languages for all the fans around the world. Up to 267,000 concurrent viewers (around 2,965,000 unique viewers) cheered for their favourites at www.esl.tv.
The StarCraft II competition, dominated by the Korean players, was won by Jang “MC” Min Chul representing a team from Germany, SK Gaming. On the other hand, in Counter-Strike 1.6 the European teams turned out to be the strongest. The first place in this discipline was taken by team ESC Gaming from Poland. In League of Legends the title, trophy and the prize money (50,000 USD) went to a team from Russia, Moscow Five.
The Intel Extreme Masters season 2011/12 was supported by BenQ, Razer, TwitchTV and the league’s long-time partner, Intel.
The event broke not only the streaming records. The Intel Extreme Masters World Championship dominated CeBIT also on the social media platform. On Twitter, the hashtag #IEM reached more than 950,000 people and generated more than 12 million impressions from over 10,000 tweets.
The winners of the Intel Extreme Masters 2011/2012 World Championship:
League of Legends:
1. Moscow 5 (Russia) – $50.000
2. Dignitas (USA) – $20,000
3. CLG – $8,000
Photo of the winners : www.esl-world.net/masters/season6/hanover/gallery/event/71844530/
Counter-Strike 1.6:
1. ESC Gaming (Poland) – $50.000
2. Natus Vincere (Ukraine) – $20,000
3. Lions (Sweden) – $8,000
Photo of the winners: www.flickr.com/photos/eslphotos/6981755469/in/set-72157629583112649
StarCraft II:
1. Jang “MC” Min Chul (Korea) – $35,000
2. Lee “PuMa” Ho Joon (Korea) – $15,000
3. Moon “MMA” Sung Won (Korea) – $9,000
Photo of the winner: www.flickr.com/photos/eslphotos/6981762535/in/set-72157629583112649
ESL TV breaks records
During all five days of the eSports action in hall 23 at CeBIT, ESL TV, ESL’s web TV service, together with the world’s best video game broadcasting network, TwitchTV, were broadcasting the competition live and in nine languages (English, German, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Chinese, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese). At its peak, more than 267,000 were watching the event at www.esl.tv. The tournament has generated more than 16 million sessions and attracted around 2,965,000 unique viewers.
“We suspected that the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship event at CeBIT might be successful but the final outcome surpassed all our expectations,” said Michal Blicharz, the Director of Pro Gaming at Turtle Entertainment. “Once again the records have been broken. This event turned out to be the most outstanding one in the history of ESL,” he added.
Intel Extreme Masters
The Intel® Extreme Masters is the global league of video game champions since 2006. The league arranges the hardest and most popular competitions in Counter-Strike, StarCraft II and League of Legends. eSports champions from Europe, Asia and America struggle for $643,000 in prize money – the most lucrative prize purse globally. Live tournaments at the world’s largest IT and Gaming conventions feature the top performers of the season – global stars in eSports. The sixth season will have its exciting final in Germany in 2012, finding the top teams and players in the Intel® Extreme Masters World Championship. ESL TV, ESL’s web-TV service, presents the best games of the season live and reports directly from the offline events.
Further information about the Intel Extreme Masters at www.intelextrememasters.com
Intel Corporation
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com
Turtle Entertainment GmbH
Turtle Entertainment is a leading company in the field of competitive gaming and electronic sports. Founded in the year 2000 the company is currently offering its services in more than 40 countries including the USA and China. Core of Turtle’s services is its online portal called Electronic Sports League (ESL), which became a highly popular destination site for competitive computer gamers around the world. The portal reaches up to ten million visits a month (IVW) generated by more than 3.4 million registered users. Turtle Entertainment broadcasts ESL events via ESL TV, ESL’s web TV service, since 2007. The headquarter has more than 115 employees and is located in Cologne, Germany. Important business partners of Turtle Entertainment are global corporations such as Intel, BenQ, Razer, TwitchTV, Dell, Volkswagen, Microsoft, adidas and Deutsche Post.
Further information is available at www.turtle-entertainment.com
– High resolution photos from the event at www.flickr.com/photos/eslphotos/sets/72157629583112649/
– Panoramic photos (last eight): www.flickr.com/photos/eslphotos/sets/72157627817473216/
– Videos from the event at www.youtube.com/IntelExtremeMasters
– Further information about the ESL TV at: www.esl.tv
– Further information about Electronic Sports League at www.esl.eu
– Further information about Turtle Entertainment at: www.turtle-entertainment.com
– Company Trailer Turtle Entertainment GmbH (browser flash movie): http://files.turtle-entertainment.de/video/eslpromo.html
