ESL has announced that the upcoming IEM World Championship event will have $500,000 on offer.

The news represents a dramatic increase in the prize money allocated, which will be doubled from the $250,000 that were on offer at this year's event.

The event will span six days and will culminate with the playoffs at the Spodek Arena, in Katowice, from March 2-4.

IEM World Championship will return to Spodek

A total of 16 teams will be taking part in this competition, with qualification details due to be revealed "at a later date" along with the format, according to ESL.

The IEM World Championship will count towards the Intel Grand Slam, a $1 million prize up for grabs by the teams competing in the ESL/DreamHack circuit. SK, G2 and FaZe are the only teams with an Intel Grand Slam point at this stage.

Astralis won this year's IEM Katowice event after beating FaZe 3-1 in the grand final, taking home the grand prize of $100,000.