Australia’s CS winter to end with $250k festival—and it should be one of CS2’s first spectacles

At long last, tier one Counter-Strike is returning to Australia with the fourth iteration of Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Sydney set for Oct. 16 to 22—and it very well could be one of CS2’s first big tournaments.

Aussie Counter-Strike fans have been content with two editions of ESL Challenger at DreamHack Melbourne, but the hunger for a return to a larger-scale tournament was never fully satisfied. It has been four years since Team Liquid took the crown at Qudos Bank Arena, with thousands champing at the bit to catch their favorites live again.

“When we were presented with a special opportunity to host IEM in Sydney again this year, we leapt at it,” ESL FACEIT’s head of marketing and sales in Australia Graeme Du Toit said, adding the desire of the ever-passionate Australian fanbase never went unnoticed. ESL will be counting on the audience to show why they’re “the best esports crowd” in October.

2023’s return won’t be at Olympic Park, however. Instead, the tournament will be held in conjunction with the inaugural South by Southwest festival and will move home to the Aware Super Theatre at ICC Sydney. The theatre, an indoor center with a 9,000-spectator capacity at Darling Harbor, will host the top six on Oct. 20 for playoffs.

Sixteen of the world’s best teams will descend upon Sydney to play for $250,000 USD, with the event format identical to that of last month’s IEM Dallas. The bulk of the attendees will be from Europe, with six ESL Partners and four ESL World Ranking invites joining the Local Hero Invite—expected to be Grayhound Gaming.

Remaining teams will be given the opportunity to qualify for the tournament, with European, American, Asian, and Oceanic qualifiers beginning on Aug. 9.

IEM was set for a move to Melbourne in 2020 in line with the Melbourne Esports Open, but due to the COVID pandemic and border closures, the event was canceled. International CS would not return to Oceanic shores until 2022’s edition of ESL Challenger Melbourne.

“Australia has a special place in our hearts when it comes to Counter-Strike events—Melbourne has been an amazing host for our ESL Challenger competitions, and we definitely can’t wait to come to Sydney with another IEM event,” said ESL FACEIT Group senior CS:GO game ecosystem director Shaun Clark.

ESL remains “cautiously optimistic” its flagship IEM Cologne event in July will debut CS2, with the game’s release penned for “summer,” but Valve has not released a concrete release date and in its current state, the game is not yet ready for pro play. As such, it is probable October’s IEM Sydney could be one of the first CS2 tournaments.

Question marks will also be raised over the attendee list. Previous versions of IEM Sydney were plagued with visa issues, with NAVI and FaZe Clan encountering problems in years past. Nevertheless, the country’s fans are more than ready to put on a show.

Tickets for IEM Sydney will be available on June 22, with prices starting at $159 AUD ($109 USD) for general admission.