The growth of the esports industry over the past decade and further has been a sight to behold. Through it all, Counter-Strike has been a constant, even as Counter-Strike transitioned into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. With that growth came significant investment from sponsors, event runners, teams, and more. And as is the nature of such a thing, especially in decentralized esports scenes like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's, money can in turn lead to cheating. Valve is doing what it can to respond, including addressing a recently discovered exploit.
In 2020, the Esports Integrity Commission announced an investigation into a cheating scandal within the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports scene. Participants of the ESL and Dreamhack tournaments were using a newly discovered bug tied to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to cheat. More specifically, coaches for several major teams were using the spectator bug to share information about enemy positions with their team. The full nature of the exploit has never been detailed publicly.
The discovery of the bug would initially lead to 37 parties being sanctioned due to abuse of the exploit on 96 different maps. Those initial punishments ranged from 3.75 months banned from competition and coaching to bans of 36 months, as was the case of Hard Legion coach MechanoGun. However, Valve then stepped in and laid down even harsher punishments, ultimately permanently banning four coaches for repeated offenses that were judged particularly egregious.
Now Valve is back with the next step of its response to these Counter-Strike: Global Offensive cheating offenses. A new update issued by Valve enables tracking for coaches for game replays. Replay viewers will now be able to see where coaches are spectating from, as well as what they see. It doesn't prevent anyone from using an exploit, but it does offer up a much simpler method for maintaining accountability.
As for the exploit itself, it's unclear whether Valve has already solved the issue. The reason why the exact nature of the exploit was never shared publicly is likely because it allowed Valve to solve the exploit and track its use without cheaters knowing. Valve may even have fixed the issue or replaced it with a tracking mechanism.
At the very least, Valve wants Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players and esports fans to know how serious it's taking this problem. Conveying the idea that Valve is paying close attention and is willing to permanently ban professionals is as important as fixing exploits, with regards to maintaining a healthy competitive scene. That's clearly not an easy thing to do, though, given the controversies Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has faced in recent years.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is available now on PC.