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Valve Issues Life Bans to CS: GO Players Who Participated in Match-Fixing

Lifetime bans dished out to match-fixers.

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Valve has made an announcement clarifying the status of bans it issued to several professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players in January 2015. As detailed on the Counter-Strike blog, the announcement clarified that the bans issued to players who took part in competition match-fixing are permanent.

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"While bans can be disruptive and painful to some members of the community, they are sometimes necessary. We sincerely hope that we won’t have to issue more in the future," the announcement reads.

The bans from January 2015 affected staff and players from several competitive gaming teams, including iBUYPOWER, NetCodeGuides.com, and Team Torqued. The bans were issued as a result of match-fixing for the purpose of gaining highly valued in-game items, which can be used for betting on the outcome of professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive matches or sold on the Steam marketplace. The teams are not allowed to take part in any capacity in events sponsored by Valve.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the most popular games on Steam. The game was the subject of controversy among its players last year when Valve introduced a new pistol which was deemed overpowered. The pistol in question has since been nerfed in a subsequent patch.

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