Valve is dishing out a permanent ban to anyone that engages in match-fixing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. If a team is found to have intentionally lost for financial gain, the team and its players will be barred–forever–from participating in any further competitions sponsored by Valve.
“Back in January and early February 2015 we took action after we discovered that a small number of professional CS:GO players were engaged in match-fixing,” Valve wrote in a blog post. “Our decision was to ban these players indefinitely from involvement in Valve-sponsored events. To clarify, the bans for these players are permanent, and players proven to have taken part in match-fixing will be permanently banned.”
The teams iBuyPower and Epsilon have thus both been permanently banned from competing in the sport. As Nathan Grayson at Kotaku pointed out, this means the teams can still compete at Counter-Strike: GO competitions that aren’t related to Valve. Still, a ban from the creators of the game isn’t something that a team can take lightly.
“As the scene grows, it’s an unfortunate reality that some individuals will seek opportunities to take advantage of their fans,” Valve continued. “We will continue to take whatever action we think is necessary to protect the entertainment value created by professional Counter-Strike, including, on occasion, terminating our relationship with individuals who have demonstrated a willingness to exploit their fans’ faith in the integrity of the sport.”
