Valve bans CS:GO Pro Coaches in Spectator Bug Scandal

Valve has banned 37 CS:GO pro coaches on grounds of misusing a spectator bug, after confirming reports from the ESIC

Valve has decided to take strong action against CS:GO pro coaches identified in the spectator bug scandal. Following a detailed investigation carried out by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), the developer has announced its decision to ban 37 CS:GO pro coaches from the Majors of whom eight would be banned for life.

The matter dates back to September last year, when Valve received suspicious reports of many professional coaches exploiting a coaching-feature bug to gain unfair advantage during matches. Following this, Valve decided that coaches who exploited the camera bug will be ineligible to participate in some number of future Valve-sponsored events.

CS:GO pro coaches hit hard

The spectator bug seems to have been severely exploited by pro coaches in gaining an upper hand during games. This has warranted Valve to alter its gaming rules to only allow players inside rooms and on servers while an online match is on.

Also, neither coaches nor any other team staff would be allowed inside the aforementioned areas during a game. They will also not be allowed to communicate with players. The penalty imposition will be in lieu of demerit points as prescribed by the ESIC, which are as follows:

2 demerits – 1 Major
3 demerits – 2 Majors
4 demerits – 3 Majors
5 demerits – 5 Majors
6+ demerits – permanent ban

CS:GO pro scam of epic proportions

ESIC had initially estimated in September 2020 that 25,000 demos would be required through reviewing in order to assess the exploitation of the spectator bug. However, when the commission started accessing the data bases of both the ESEA and HLTV, they retrieved 99,650 demos. A near 4-fold increase in the expected figures!

ESIC was quick to mention that all sanctioning decisions have been made proportionately, fairly and are consistent with the ethics of the game. The commission also mentioned that it has outstretched itself to ensure that the calculation of the sanctions imposed on the offending coaches comply with all requisite standards.

Permanently banned CS:GO pro coaches:

Alessandro ‘Apoka’ Marcucci
Morgan ‘B1GGY’ Madour
Bruno ‘bruno’ Ono
Ivan ‘F_1N’ Kochugov
Arthur ‘prd’ Resende
Allan ‘Rejin’ Petersen
Slaava ‘Twista’ Räsänen
Aleksandr ‘zoneR’ Bogatyrev