173,000 attended the Intel Extreme Masters event in Katowice, Poland.
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Poland’s Intel Extreme Masters was biggest event in esports history with 173,000 spectators

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 3 min

More than 173,000 fans attended the Intel Extreme Masters event in Katowice, Poland, making it the biggest esports event in history.

Sponsored by Intel, the event’s operator is esports tournament company ESL. The tournament saw increased attendance, online viewership, and social media reach. This year’s event featured an expanded festival and virtual reality demo showcase.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.