IEM Sydney 2023 announced

After a three-year hiatus, top-level competitive Counter-Strike returns to Australia for Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023. In addition, this tournament will be organized in conjunction with SXSW Sydney, a festival of technology and innovation, gaming, music, and more.

The Australian community has only enjoyed two competitive CS:GO tournaments over the past three years. However, both have been ESL Challenger: DreamHack Melbourne, i.e., Tier 2 tournaments where few large teams attend. After four years since Team Liquid lifted the champions trophy at Qudos Bank Arena, the community will enjoy their favorite teams again in a LAN tournament.

IEM Sydney 2023 – Details

IEM Sydney 2023 will take place, as mentioned, at the opening of the SXSW Sydney festival from October 20-22, 2023. In addition to being excellent news for all Australian fans, this may be the first major tournament in Counter-Strike 2. Recall that rumors indicate that CS2 would arrive in early October.

🇦🇺 It’s time for THE BIG REUNION Down Under 🇦🇺

After over 1,500+ days we are heading BACK to Australia! 🦘#IEM Sydney | October 20 – 22, 2023 pic.twitter.com/Dzrjf7NwRi

— IEM SYDNEY IS BACK🐨🇦🇺🐨🇦🇺🐨🇦🇺 (@ESLCS) June 20, 2023

Recall that the IEM (Intel Extreme Masters) is the circuit contested in each Counter-Strike and Starcraft II season. The ESL has made stops in Rio de Janeiro and Dallas this season. Then, at the end of July, IEM Cologne 2023 will be held, while at the end of the year, we will again have IEM Sydney. IEM Sydney will be held at the Aware Super Theatre at ICC Sydney instead of the Olympic Park as previous editions have been.

IEM Sydney – Format and participating teams

At IEM Sydney 2023, we will have the top 16 Counter-Strike teams in the world participating and playing for a prize pool of $250,000. The format will be identical to the one used in the IEM Dallas that ended a few weeks ago.

On the other hand, it is worth noting that most of the teams will come from Europe, with six teams associated with the ESL and four more invited according to their ranking in the world ranking. In addition, we will have a “Local Hero Invite,” which should undoubtedly be Grayhound Gaming.

Teams not directly invited to the tournament must play for the ticket through qualifiers in all regions starting August 9, 2023.

Covid-19 prevented the 2020 edition

In 2020, the ESL planned to move to Melbourne to hold the 2020 edition. However, the tournament was canceled altogether due to Covid-19 restrictions and border closures by many countries worldwide. Then, the competitive CS:GO scene returned to Australian soil in 2022 for ESL Challenger Melbourne.

IEM Sydney – First major CS2 tournament?

ESL is optimistic about holding IEM Cologne 2023 in Counter-Strike 2; Valve’s silence regarding the official release suggests that IEM Sydney may be the first big CS2 tournament in history. Also, it is worth mentioning that, with the current state of CS2, it is impossible to play it at a professional level; there are still many bugs to be fixed, and Valve is trying to do it as fast as possible.

Header: ESL