Intel Extreme Masters Katowice will take place over two weekends in 2017 for the first time in the history of the event, tournament organizer ESL announced Wednesday.
Hosted in Katowice, Poland, the event will begin with League of Legends, which will take place on Feb. 25-26 at the Spodek Arena. The following weekend -- Mar. 3-5 -- will feature the event's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and StarCraft II tournaments at both the Spodek and the International Convention Center, which are adjacent to one another. During the second weekend, ESL will host an expo event, similar in style to that of its sister company DreamHack.
Traditionally, IEM Katowice, one of the largest tournaments in esports, takes place all on the same weekend. In 2016, however, the event suffered from scheduling issues due to all three tournaments being hosted on the main stage at the Spodek on the final day of the event.
"This event is growing every year," ESL Vice President of pro gaming Michal "Carmac" Blicharz said in a press release. "We will have the highest prize money in IEM history and will host more gamers than ever before. Last March we thought we needed two arenas to really satisfy the number of people that wanted the world's best gamers to compete at Intel Extreme Masters. We were obviously unable to construct a second indoor arena, so we've expanded the World Championship to take place over two major esports weekends."
Additionally, the event will feature over $600,000 in prize pools across the two weekends. ESL did not announce how it plans to distribute that money.