2008 – Marked the milestone of 2 million members in the ESL! It seemed like the sky was the limit as ESL expanded with new branches in the USA, UK, Scandinavia and Poland.
IEM also went international, hosting events in the USA, Dubai and South Korea for the first time. At the IEM Global Challenge held at E3 at Los Angeles, USA, a player “Swarm” was caught on live video raging at his teammate. This video went viral and has now garnered over 1.3 million views on Youtube. With the prestige of the tournament and the stress of playing in front of a live audience, tensions were high indeed.
IEM made 6 stops in total this year, with a new city at every stop. It left footprints in venues such as the SCP Auto Salon in Montreal, the Gitex Shopper Expo in Dubai, and the G-Star in Seoul. To date, IEM has hosted 72 events all around the world and has given out more than €11,000,000 in prize money.