We are just days away from the start of IEM Season VII. In short (or in detail if you so prefer),what can we expect from this iteration of Intel Extreme Masters?
As our host on the StarCraft II stage put it: we hope to see "unprecedented levels of pwnage"! We have a much improved tournament system which covers pretty much every weakness we had from last season. The response from players and teams to the changes has only been positive so far. Look at how they voted with their feet: NesTea, Mvp, MC and 9 other Koreans are there...
It's the start of the season. Everything seems fresh and new to me. I am really hoping it will be phenomenal!
The previous season made quite the travel. You went to China, Brazil, Ukraine, USA... Are we going to see IEM VII visit a destination previously unexplored?
All I can say is that we're going to two places we've never visited before and I'm very happy about it as well. Announcements will come soon after gamescom.
For the new season, you are bringing in an open tournament addition to the format and for Cologne it's kind of at the level of premier tournaments' playoffs. Why did you feel the need to change the format?
The first reason is that there are so many tournaments these days that many top pros aren't able to make it to all of the qualifiers. The second reason is that with our closed qualification system, we had trouble replacing players that dropped out at the last minute. Now all we will do is open the extra slot to an additional player from the open tournament.
We now have a healthy mix of players that are pre-qualified and rewarded for it and pros that were too busy to participate in the qualifiers. The open bracket's tougher than we've expected, tougher than anyone's expected. This will make qualification for the next events more interesting and more important because everyone will want to be qualified directly to group play.
![edaf4c2f1b9b799ea7b416b4312c04cfb73be5398b463781d08484c176.jpg]()
Is the open tournament the next step towards, as you like to say, finding the unknown 18 year old star, or do you look at it as a the show component with a lot of star potential that is to fire up the whole tournament? Because it really looks like the second and it’s not something that comes to mind when I hear “open tournament”.
The open tournament is for pros whose sponsors can afford to fly them across the world, but it's also meant for very local players as well. The online qualification system is the place where we will most likely find the next Feast, though.
You traditionally partner up with big parties and last year you travelled to New York Comic Con in additional to the regulars CeBIT and Gamescom. What are the pros and cons of such collaboration?
The cons are that we do not own the entire exhibition hall and that the shows often close around the times of the best viewing hours. Outside of that, trade shows provide a lot of natural traffic to the Intel Extreme Masters. You would be amazed to see how many people stop and watch StarCraft and League of Legends that had know those games well but had never been to an esports event before. We get up to 300,000 people at an event that walk past our booth and have a chance to be involved with esports.
It's a win-win for trade shows that have us really, since we're a major attraction at those shows. At CeBIT 2011 and 2012 the Intel Extreme Masters hall reached its capacity and there were hour long queues to get in. Those were the only two times in CeBIT history when it happened.
IEM recently said goodbye to CS 1.6 as a main discipline. Are you going to announce another one anytime soon?
No, right now the plan is to finish this season with StarCraft II and League of Legends.
With the departure of Rotterdam and Mr. Bitter, fans were worried that the level of casting for IEM would decline but we see that the caster line up for Gamescom is as good as they come. Will this configuration persist through all the remaining tournaments?
You will see Kaelaris at every tournament. Day[9], Tasteless and Artosis are busy people. So far we've got them for gamescom only, but if they're available for other events, it's very likely that they'll go to them.
As our host on the StarCraft II stage put it: we hope to see "unprecedented levels of pwnage"! We have a much improved tournament system which covers pretty much every weakness we had from last season. The response from players and teams to the changes has only been positive so far. Look at how they voted with their feet: NesTea, Mvp, MC and 9 other Koreans are there...
It's the start of the season. Everything seems fresh and new to me. I am really hoping it will be phenomenal!
The previous season made quite the travel. You went to China, Brazil, Ukraine, USA... Are we going to see IEM VII visit a destination previously unexplored?
All I can say is that we're going to two places we've never visited before and I'm very happy about it as well. Announcements will come soon after gamescom.
"We're going to two places we've never visited before"
For the new season, you are bringing in an open tournament addition to the format and for Cologne it's kind of at the level of premier tournaments' playoffs. Why did you feel the need to change the format?
The first reason is that there are so many tournaments these days that many top pros aren't able to make it to all of the qualifiers. The second reason is that with our closed qualification system, we had trouble replacing players that dropped out at the last minute. Now all we will do is open the extra slot to an additional player from the open tournament.
We now have a healthy mix of players that are pre-qualified and rewarded for it and pros that were too busy to participate in the qualifiers. The open bracket's tougher than we've expected, tougher than anyone's expected. This will make qualification for the next events more interesting and more important because everyone will want to be qualified directly to group play.
Is the open tournament the next step towards, as you like to say, finding the unknown 18 year old star, or do you look at it as a the show component with a lot of star potential that is to fire up the whole tournament? Because it really looks like the second and it’s not something that comes to mind when I hear “open tournament”.
The open tournament is for pros whose sponsors can afford to fly them across the world, but it's also meant for very local players as well. The online qualification system is the place where we will most likely find the next Feast, though.
You traditionally partner up with big parties and last year you travelled to New York Comic Con in additional to the regulars CeBIT and Gamescom. What are the pros and cons of such collaboration?
The cons are that we do not own the entire exhibition hall and that the shows often close around the times of the best viewing hours. Outside of that, trade shows provide a lot of natural traffic to the Intel Extreme Masters. You would be amazed to see how many people stop and watch StarCraft and League of Legends that had know those games well but had never been to an esports event before. We get up to 300,000 people at an event that walk past our booth and have a chance to be involved with esports.
It's a win-win for trade shows that have us really, since we're a major attraction at those shows. At CeBIT 2011 and 2012 the Intel Extreme Masters hall reached its capacity and there were hour long queues to get in. Those were the only two times in CeBIT history when it happened.
"You would be amazed to see how many people stop and watch StarCraft and League of Legends that had know those games well but had never been to an esports event before."
IEM recently said goodbye to CS 1.6 as a main discipline. Are you going to announce another one anytime soon?
No, right now the plan is to finish this season with StarCraft II and League of Legends.
With the departure of Rotterdam and Mr. Bitter, fans were worried that the level of casting for IEM would decline but we see that the caster line up for Gamescom is as good as they come. Will this configuration persist through all the remaining tournaments?
You will see Kaelaris at every tournament. Day[9], Tasteless and Artosis are busy people. So far we've got them for gamescom only, but if they're available for other events, it's very likely that they'll go to them.
The prize pool has also grown significantly, from $21,000 for Season VI Cologne to $32,000 for Season VII’s debut event. How big has the overall money purse grown compared to last season?
The rise is in excess of $50,000 for the entire season. $32,000 times 5 plus the prize money for the World Championship at the end of the season.
![a0cad82e30ecc8f42117d500bf2a9f39dc700fdd9b3eb55751a15925bf.jpg]()
You have always been a person of strong opinions and I want to put IEM on the side for a while and talk about eSports in the non-eSports media. I know that long have you been advocating that eSports will not reach the level of regular sports any time soon but more and more statistics are gathered to at least try to show the opposite. Are you seeing yourself becoming wrong in the near future or those numbers are still largely inaccurate?
I could be wrong at any time! You know what Churchill said about statistics, right?* Right now we're growing like crazy and we are reaching more people than ever in the history of esports. The growth has been immense and completely blew my mind. But the best esports show on the planet still cannot compare itself with a World Cup or the Super Bowl. There's nothing wrong with not being as large as the World Cup, though, right?
My other question is in regard to the recently published, widely discussed and extremely controversial article, comparing eSports to video game addiction. As someone who’s witnessed the birth of eSports journalism, what do you think needs to be done for our “mainstream colleagues” to fully understand this new kid on the block called professional gaming? Does it even have to be on CNN, FOX News etc? Should it be left to people who know it inside out or any publicity is good publicity for eSports right now?
Our mainstream colleagues need to do better research and then we are all fine, I think. It's a generation problem, nothing else. In 5-10 years, today's esports addicts will be in responsible positions, including journalism (all kinds of it). We should see less and less of those articles with time as the people that grew up with gaming and esports take over from the older generation.
Back to IEM Cologne with the quick, fun question! Which is one name that you really want to see make it from the open bracket to the playoffs?
Tarson, the Drunken Terran. But to be honest I think he's too lazy to make it out of the open bracket!
Biggest potential upset in your eyes for SC2 and LoL?
I think people don't give enough credit to the young Europeans in general. I'm thinking Feast and Vortix should do quite well. In League of Legends there won't be any surprises.
You didn’t break the 333,333 concurrent LoL viewers at Season VI World Championship so there went the cosplay contest... Is the offer still standing for Season VII?
If it's done on one single match, then yes, it stands.
Should this number be broken, what will Uszat dress like?
I don't know. I have a Teemo hat, but Teemo would be quite boring. We will have to cross that bridge when we get there.
Any parting words to our readers and to anybody that will tune in August 15-19 and for Season VII in general?
I am very afraid that we won't have enough seats... *laughs* Thanks for the interview.
* - I only believe in statistics that I doctored myself.
The rise is in excess of $50,000 for the entire season. $32,000 times 5 plus the prize money for the World Championship at the end of the season.
You have always been a person of strong opinions and I want to put IEM on the side for a while and talk about eSports in the non-eSports media. I know that long have you been advocating that eSports will not reach the level of regular sports any time soon but more and more statistics are gathered to at least try to show the opposite. Are you seeing yourself becoming wrong in the near future or those numbers are still largely inaccurate?
I could be wrong at any time! You know what Churchill said about statistics, right?* Right now we're growing like crazy and we are reaching more people than ever in the history of esports. The growth has been immense and completely blew my mind. But the best esports show on the planet still cannot compare itself with a World Cup or the Super Bowl. There's nothing wrong with not being as large as the World Cup, though, right?
My other question is in regard to the recently published, widely discussed and extremely controversial article, comparing eSports to video game addiction. As someone who’s witnessed the birth of eSports journalism, what do you think needs to be done for our “mainstream colleagues” to fully understand this new kid on the block called professional gaming? Does it even have to be on CNN, FOX News etc? Should it be left to people who know it inside out or any publicity is good publicity for eSports right now?
Our mainstream colleagues need to do better research and then we are all fine, I think. It's a generation problem, nothing else. In 5-10 years, today's esports addicts will be in responsible positions, including journalism (all kinds of it). We should see less and less of those articles with time as the people that grew up with gaming and esports take over from the older generation.
"Our mainstream colleagues need to do better research and then we are all fine, I think. It's a generation problem, nothing else."
Back to IEM Cologne with the quick, fun question! Which is one name that you really want to see make it from the open bracket to the playoffs?
Tarson, the Drunken Terran. But to be honest I think he's too lazy to make it out of the open bracket!
Biggest potential upset in your eyes for SC2 and LoL?
I think people don't give enough credit to the young Europeans in general. I'm thinking Feast and Vortix should do quite well. In League of Legends there won't be any surprises.
You didn’t break the 333,333 concurrent LoL viewers at Season VI World Championship so there went the cosplay contest... Is the offer still standing for Season VII?
If it's done on one single match, then yes, it stands.
Should this number be broken, what will Uszat dress like?
I don't know. I have a Teemo hat, but Teemo would be quite boring. We will have to cross that bridge when we get there.
Any parting words to our readers and to anybody that will tune in August 15-19 and for Season VII in general?
I am very afraid that we won't have enough seats... *laughs* Thanks for the interview.
* - I only believe in statistics that I doctored myself.
Stay tuned to GosuGamers and the incoming kick-ass coverage of IEM Season VII Cologne. Stop over at our coverage hub at any point of time in the next week to keep yourself up to date.
Interviewer: Radoslav "Nydra" Kolev
Interviewer: Radoslav "Nydra" Kolev
![[Op-Ed] Women in competitive gaming – why are there so few?](https://static.gosugamers.net/8f/c9/2c/df69cf93db41c27a46978529e01614f38e0bfb80888132ac95fd3f89fb.jpg?w=1600)
