ESL will in cooperation with Valve, ASUS and Intel host a $250,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament for EMS One at IEM Katowice in March.

Intel Extreme Masters dropped Counter-Strike from its game list after season six finals in early 2012. Last year a small side tournament was however held at IEM Katowice in January.

This year Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will return to Katowice, though the event will be under the EMS One banner, with another massive $250,000 prize purse, similar to DreamHack Winter.



It's not CeBIT, but it's as close as it can get in 2014

This now marks the second time since August that Valve chooses to financially support a CS:GO event after adding the Arms Deal system, which allows community members to support the competitive scene through tournaments.

The top eight finishers from DreamHack Winter receive direct invitations to the event, while another eight teams will be able to qualify, thus completing the sixteen team participant list.

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IEM Katowice, together with the $250,000 EMS One tournament, will take place on March 14-16th in Katowice, Poland. HLTV.org will keep you up-to-date with more information as it becomes available.