Valve released a new update for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that addresses a coaching scandal that rocked the game’s professional scene last year.
Mariusz “Loord” Cybulski, a coach for Wisła Kraków’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team and a former competitor, publicly revealed an exploit in the game on August 26 that allowed a spectator to watch matches with the walls clipped through, giving them a much fuller view of the map. It was found that some coaches had used this bug to observe opponents’ movements and positions and then relayed this information back to their teams.
A patch on May 27 reads that “Coach positions are now saved in round backup files,” which means that a coach’s spectator movement throughout the map will be tracked and recorded. Reviewers can see demos from a coach’s point-of-view to determine if they were doing something fishy or seeing things they shouldn’t.
Cybulski’s tweet sent a shockwave through the CS:GO professional scene, the repercussions of which are still being dealt with today. Valve moved swiftly to fix the camera exploit on the same day Cybulski revealed it, as esports organizations scrambled to determine how many people had used the bug and how many matches were affected by it. The Esports Integrity Commision offered a confession period to any cheaters in hiding as it doled out the first wave of bans.
After reviewing over 19,000 demos stretching back to 2016, 37 coaches have been suspended for periods varying from 6 to 15 months. The ESIC’s investigation is still ongoing.
(h/t PC Gamer)