Intel Extreme Masters Season 11 announced with over $1 million in prizes

With a full decade of Intel Extreme Masters tournaments under its belt, ESL has announced that the IEM slate of events will return for an eleventh season beginning in July. Not only that, but this year's IEM will be the first with a prize pool of over $1 million, though notably that is split between the three main games represented in the year-long tournament series.

Speaking of games, ESL and Intel have yet to announce a complete list, but League of Legends is mentioned in the announcement as one of the three core games, alongside mainstays like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and StarCraft 2.

IEM Season 11 will begin with an event at Shanghai's ChinaJoy Expo, the largest gaming event in China, from July 28 to 31. Last year's North American leg of the IEM took place in San Jose, but this year it will move up to a larger venue in Oakland, California, taking place on Nov. 19 and 20. On December 17 and 18, a stadium event will be hosted in Goyang, Korea, and finally the season will once again end in Katowice, Poland, some time in March 2017.

The Intel Extreme Masters Season 10 finals took place in Katowice on Mar. 4 through 6 of this year. Eight teams were represented, including finalists from previous IEM Season 10 tournaments and invited teams to represent each region. The finals saw Korea's powerhouse team SK Telecom T1 going up against and sweeping Europe's Fnatic.