Carmac on the evolution of IEM and eSports

Photo by: Esports-award.org

Michal "Carmac" Blicharz talked in length to Forbes.com about the growth of Intel Extreme Masters and eSports in general, providing some dazzling numbers to paint the picture of the path that the ESL tournament is walking.

Carmac leads into the interview with a few figures, representing IEM's extensive growth since its first season. From 1,000 square meters to 10,000 square meters tournament hall at CeBIT Hannover. More than triple the increase in the prize purse, from $205,000 in Season I to $643,000 in Season VI. 1000% viewership increase in Season VI compared to its predecessor.

At one point, Carmac is approached with a question about the difference between IEM and MLG, the two being some of the leading tournaments on their respective continents. Carmac points out the attention that MLG is paying to having a great show, while IEM's aim always being at "creating the best possible sports league first".

- "In the long term, all companies in eSports need to open the door a little wider to potential new stars," adds Carmac. "Esports will quickly grow stale if the same dozen players keep getting all of the exposure."

So how would Carmac summarize the evolution of eSpors? Where does this rampant expansion of eSports lead to?

- "We have had online streams of our tournaments long before it became a standard for most mainstream sports leagues. We have had social networks long before Facebook got big. We’re not going to television because we don’t have to. TV as we’ve known it for the last 20 years is dead anyway and needs to adapt to how we are doing things."

- "Pro gaming is becoming more widely accepted and understood by people with the ability to invest into it. Ten years from now current 20 year old pro gaming aficionados will have become managers at serious companies. Things will start getting interesting then."

Read the whole interview on Forbes.com.