The ''Counter-Strike'' coaching bug scandal is an ongoing bug abuse scandal in the game '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive''. The bug had three variants, all of which allowed team coaches to see parts of the

map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

they normally would not have access to and gather information about the enemy team. It was first made public on 26 August 2020 by

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. It ...

coach Mariusz "Loord" Cybulski. Five days later, three coaches were banned by

Esports Integrity Commission The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), formerly the Esports Integrity Coalition, is a non-profit members' association established in 2016 to promote and facilitate competitive integrity in esports. History The organization was founded by Ian ...

(ESIC) for exploiting the bug. ESIC launched an investigation on 4 September and on 28 September, ESIC banned a further 34 coaches after reviewing 20% of the demos. On 5 May 2022, ESIC announced that almost 100 coaches were going to be sanctioned as they neared the completion of the final investigation.

Valve Corporation Valve Corporation is an American video game developer, video game publisher, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam (service), Steam an ...

, the developer of the game, announced on 26 August 2020 that they had fixed the bug, however a coach was still able to recreate it on 15 May 2021.

Background

'' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' is a

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

released in 2012, where two opposing teams compete against each other. The bug was first made public by

coach Mariusz "Loord" Cybulski on 26 August 2020, who said that it allowed him to "see above the map and tell info to the players". The exploit allowed coaches to have an overview of a random spot on the map. On 5 May 2022, during the final investigation, the

said that there were three variants of the bug: the "static" bug that placed coaches on a random point, the "free-roam" bug that allowed the coaches to fly around the map, and the "third-person" bug that allowed coaches to watch the match from a third-person view.

Investigations

Initial investigations

August 2020 bans

On 31 August 2020, five days after the bug was uncovered, the

banned three coaches due to their involvement in the scandal. These coaches were Ricardo "dead" Sinigaglia of Made in Brazil, Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen of Heroic, and Aleksandr "⁠zoneR⁠" Bogatiryev of Hard Legion.

September 2020 bans

On 4 September, ESIC announced that Michal Slowinski, a tournament admin, and Steve Dudenhoeffer, a software development manager at

ESEA ESEA may refer to: *East and Southeast Asia, a modern term for the Far East *In the UK, an alternative to British East and Southeast Asian (or BESEA) *Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a 1965 United States federal statute considered the most ...

, were going to examine the "demos" (in-game video recordings) of coaches dating back to 2016 to see who had abused the bug. Coaches who confessed to using the exploit and assisted in the investigation itself were given a reduction of up to 60% of their suspension period. After reviewing 20% of the 99,650 demos, ESIC announced on 28 September that it had banned 37 coaches for periods ranging from 3 to 36 months.

Full investigation

On 29 March 2022, ''Dexerto'' reported that ESIC was close to finalizing its investigation into the scandal. The Counter-Strike Professional Players Association wanted the results to be published before the next Major,

PGL Major Antwerp 2022 The PGL Major Antwerp 2022, also known as PGL Major 2022 or Antwerp 2022, was the seventeenth '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' (''CS:GO'') Major Championship. It was held in Antwerp, Belgium at the Sportpaleis from May 9 to 22, 2022. Twenty ...

. ESIC told ''Dust2.us'' on 1 May that they intended to release the bans before the Major. On 5 May, ESIC announced that almost 100 coaches were going to be banned. The organization also temporarily suspended three unnamed coaches who were meant to be at the Antwerp Major. The next day, three days before the Major, ESIC announced that the three coaches were Sergey "hally" Shavayev of Team Spirit, Rafael "zakk" Fernandes of 9z, and Luis "peacemaker" Tadeu. hally and zkk encountered the "static" bug in 2018 to 2020, while peacemaker used the "free-roam" bug in March 2018. It was also determined that none of the coaches used the bug for more than two rounds.

Player involvement

ESIC had also announced in early September that there was insufficient evidence to determine any player involvement in the scandal. On 26 August 2021, during an interview with ''TV2.dk'', Nicolai "HUNDEN⁠" Petersen claimed that some of the players knew of him using the bug during his time at Heroic. On 3 September, HUNDEN released evidence of two players being aware of the bug. HUNDEN showed a conversation between him and Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen where they talked about the bug. Server logs allegedly show that René "TeSeS⁠" Madsen helped HUNDEN to get into a position on the map. He also claimed that "everyone on eroicknew it." On 18 October, ESIC announced that they had investigated the case. According to ESIC, HUNDEN had "manipulated" niko, who has

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...

(ADHD) and

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in Interpersonal relationship, social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and re ...

. The rest of Heroic's players were cleared of any charges as they were "unable to find anywhere near enough evidence" supporting HUNDEN's claims.

Aftermath

Players and organizations

Hard Legion coach Aleksandr "⁠zoneR⁠" Bogatiryev and K23 coach Aset "⁠Solaar⁠" Sembiyev were removed from their positions by their teams following their bans.

mousesports Mouz (stylized as MOUZ), formerly mousesports, is a professional esports organisation based in Germany. It fields teams in several games but is particularly known for its '' CS:GO'' team. MOUZ was one of the founding members of the G7 Teams. M ...

coach Allan "⁠Rejin⁠" Petersen and

Gambit A gambit (from Italian , the act of tripping someone with the leg to make them fall) is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices with the aim of achieving a subsequent advantage. The word ''gambit'' is also sometimes used to describe simi ...

coach Ivan "⁠F_1N⁠" Kochugov both admitted exploiting the bug and were also removed from their positions. ENCE suspended their coach Slaava "⁠Twista⁠" Räsänen after it was revealed he had used the bug in 2017 and moved him to the analyst role for the duration of the ban. Heroic did the same with their coach Nicolai "⁠HUNDEN⁠" Petersen. This practice drew criticism from

FaZe Clan FaZe Clan (formerly FaZe Sniping) is a professional eSports, esports and entertainment organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California, USA. Founded on May 30, 2010, the organization has players from around the world, across multiple game ...

head coach Janko "YNk" Paunović, who felt that the two didn't "face the consequences for what hey'vedone." ForZe contested the ban of their coach Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov and provided an explanation for three of the four cases involving him on 28 September 2020. His 7.5 month ban was lifted two weeks later on 15 October by ESIC. Robert "⁠RobbaN⁠" Dahlström said that the bug occurred to him once and claimed he was not able to fix it despite his best efforts. He also added that he muted his microphone during the match. RobbaN⁠ was backed by his team FaZe Clan. Alessandro "⁠Apoka⁠" Marcucci also contested his ban and said that he was not on his PC in two cases and that he learned about the bug later.

Valve Corporation

The bug was fixed by

, the developer of the game, on 26 August 2020, the same day that Loord exposed the bug on Twitter. On 15 May 2021 however, Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov released a video on Twitter showing that he is still able to recreate the bug. Following the scandal, Valve Corporation made changes in the Major Championships system on 28 January 2021. One of the changes included a rule which banned coaches from joining the server and being in the same room with players during online matches. The change garnered criticism from coaches and players.

References

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Counter-Strike'' coaching bug scandal 2020 in esports Video game controversies 2020 scandals Video game glitches Cheating in esports