This weekend, more than 10,000 fans will descend on Oracle Stadium for one of the West Coast’s biggest esports spectacles, Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Oakland, hosted by Intel and longtime IEM partner, ESL, the world’s largest esports company. The world’s best teams have been invited to face off on two of the top esports games played on PC: Counter Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends.

With 10 years of epic events and thrilling finals, Intel Extreme Masters has been an important part of the esports community since its origin. Each season, the IEM circuit of tournaments travels the globe and only the best teams qualify to participate. Esports fans from more than 180 countries regularly make Intel Extreme Masters events record-breakers in terms of attendance and viewership. The Season 10 championships in March drew 113,000 fans to Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland, and IEM tournaments capture more than 20 million online viewers each year.

“Intel Extreme Masters is an amazing showcase event for Intel’s technology and brand,” says George Woo, esports marketing manager at Intel. “Not only does the event offer a great venue to showcase Intel’s innovative gaming products, but it’s also an opportunity to support the esports community with exclusive, unmatched competitions from their favorite teams, and memorable experiences and connections with friends. Esports fans and participants are among the most passionate PC enthusiasts out there, and Intel’s involvement in IEM is a key way to connect with these gamers.”

Intel Activities at IEM Oakland

Each season, Intel Extreme Masters pushes the boundaries of innovation by adding new elements to make events more exciting and immersive for fans. This year it’s virtual reality. Newzoo has reported 63 percent of all VR buyers are into esports, and over half of esports enthusiasts are planning to be early adopters of VR. IEM Oakland will showcase the latest VR games and content for IEM Oakland attendees on the latest Intel Core i7 Extreme Processor, including Insomniac’s The Unspoken and Vertigo Games’ Arizona Sunshine on Oculus Rift. Intel collaborated with Insomniac and Vertigo Games to optimize these game titles for the Intel Core i7 Architecture. Attendees will also sample Survios’ Raw Data, a two-player VR co-op game on HTC Vive, and take ride in Slightly Mad Studios Project Cars VR inside a Vesaro motion racing simulator.

IEM Oakland matches will be broadcast online to 360-degree viewers and VR headsets with SLIVER.tv, including a 360-degree birds-eye view of the game action, first-person player views, player stats and live commentary. Attendees will be able to view the live tournaments in VR on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets at viewing stations in the showcase and around the venue. Powerful and thrilling VR experiences like SLIVER.tv demand a high performance PC — and that is where Intel excels.

Jaunt VR will capture the experiences of players at IEM Oakland and chronicle their stories in an ongoing VR documentary, available through the Jaunt app on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

IEM Oakland will also serve as a platform to further Intel’s commitment to diversity by hosting a showmatch with AnyKey, an advocacy organization dedicated to supporting diverse participation in esports. The best women’s CS:GO teams in the world, Team Secret and CLG Red, will face off in a rematch with the winner earning $10,000 for the charity of their choice.

Finally, college esports arrives at IEM for the first time ever with head-to-head match between cross-town rivals University of California Berkeley and Stanford. League of Legends teams from from both schools will be battling in a five vs. five matchup live at IEM Oakland directly after the second LoL quarterfinal series Saturday. The two esports teams will go on stage on the same day that the Cal and Stanford football teams battle in The Big Game.

IEM Season 11

IEM Oakland is the second stop of Season 11, which began in Shanghai China and continues to South Korea where IEM will hold its first Asian stadium event in the province of Gyeonggi on Dec 16-18. Season 11 concludes at the IEM World Champions tournament in Katowice, Poland, in March 2017.

Overall, IEM is an excellent example of how Intel innovates for consumers, offering the best technology in market that allows for an excellent consumer experience.

• More on Intel Extreme Masters
• Details on IEM Oakland

ABOUT THE COMPETITIONS AT IEM OAKLAND

Counter Strike: Global Offensive at IEM Oakland

Team Na’Vi will defend their Bay Area title against 11 other teams, including NiP who will play their 1,000th map.

CS:GO Tournament Format

• Round robin group stage with two groups of six.
• First placed teams in both groups will advance to the semifinals of the playoffs.
• Second and third placed teams in both groups will advance to the quarterfinals of the playoffs.
• Quarter and semifinals will be best-of-three. Finals will be best-of-five.

Confirmed Teams:

• Astralis
• Cloud9
• FaZe Clan
• G2 Esports
• Heroics
• Immortals
• Mouseesports
• Na’Vi
• NiP
• SK Gaming
• Team Liquid
• TyLoo

League of Legends at IEM Oakland

NA LCS frontrunners Team SoloMid will represent North America on home soil, while a first place finish in the LMS Summer Split earned Flash Wolves their tickets to Oakland. INTZ e-Sports of Brazil and The Chiefs eSports Club of Oceania will play as the two International Wildcard teams.

League of Legends Tournament Format:

• IEM Oakland will begin with a group stage consisting of two groups of teams and double elimination, best of three matchups.
• The best teams from the group stage will move on to the playoffs which will consist of best-of-three semifinals and a best-of-five grand final.

Confirmed Teams:

• Flash Wolves (LMS Summer 1st)
• INTZ e-Sports (Wildcard 1st)
• Longzhu Gaming (LCK Summer 8th)
• Team Solomid (NA LCS Summer 1st)
• The Chiefs eSports Club (Wildcard 2nd)
• Unicorns of Love (EU LCS Summer 4th)