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There is no StarCraft II esports tournament at IEM Katowice for the first time in the event’s 12-year history.
Esports tournament organiser ESL Faceit Group (EFG) has dropped the classic real-time strategy (RTS) game from the IEM Katowice 2025 line-up, focusing solely on Counter-Strike 2 instead.
In recent years, fans had been able to watch the StarCraft II finals at IEM Katowice in the auditorium area, but this year that space is being used as an overflow area for fans unable to get a seat in the main Spodek Arena. It will host a Radio Eska watch party instead.
StarCraft is of course synonymous with early esports and the growth of competitive gaming. The Blizzard Entertainment game first launched some 15 years ago, back in 2010, as a sequel to the 1998 original.
While ESL had been running StarCraft II esports events prior to the first IEM Katowice, the Polish event has been well-known for hosting regardly SC2 finals over the years.
StarCraft II has been at IEM Katowice every year since the first one in 2013, meaning it has enjoyed 12 years at IEM Katowice, until now. Finnish player Serral (pictured top) won the last IEM Katowice 2024 StarCraft event, which featured a $500,000 prize pool.
StarCraft 2 is of course an old game, and its esports scene has been declining over the years. Katowice has been one of the last regular events for the game, until now. Could a resurgence come in the form of a StarCraft 3 in the future? Time will tell.
The news comes as fans have been speculating on Reddit about whether StarCraft 2 will return to IEM or not.
ESL Faceit Group was formed in early 2022 when Savvy Games Group (owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund – its government’s Public Investment Fund) acquired ESL and Faceit.
EFG also put on the first Esports World Cup last year, which featured StarCraft II. It’s not clear whether the 2025 Esports World Cup will include StarCraft 2 or not.
Esports News UK reached out to ESL to ask whether StarCraft has been dropped from IEM Katowice just for this year, or permanently moving forward, and if the Esports World Cup will feature the game this year.
Unfortunately, ESL did not comment on the situation.
Related article: The History of UK StarCraft 2 Esports
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
