2007 – The first Intel Extreme Masters took place in Hannover, Germany on the CeBit, where a total of €160,000 prize pool was split between Counter-Strike 1.6 and Warcraft III. It was the very beginning of the IEM legacy! To date, IEM has hosted 72 events all around the world and has given out more than €11,000,000 in prize money.

Intel Friday Night Games (abbr. IFNG) continued to tour and the event in Hamburg broke the record for most attendees, with 2,000 people including Lotto King Karl, a German musician and TV/radio host! The event featured FIFA, Warcraft III 2v2 and Counter-Strike 5v5 finals played to a live audience.

In the same year, the ESL Major Series (EMS) was launched as the highest level of online competition for a number of deserving gaming titles not included in IEM. The EMS featured a wide range of game genres and was aimed to be mostly played online so players could participate and watch from home. Game titles included Heroes of Newerth, World of Tanks, Crossfire, Call of Duty, and more.