The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) updated their ongoing investigation regarding the CS:GO spectator bug discovered in August. They have so far reviewed 20% of the 99,650 game demos that ESEA and HLTV provided. These demos date all the way back to 2016. In just this 20% of the demos, they found 96 instances of teams deliberately exploiting the bug in competition. These instances have implicated 37 coaches thus far.
The ESIC plans to enforce penalties across all of its member organizations, which includes the ESL, DreamHack, WePlay! Esports, BLAST, NODWIN Gaming, LVP, and Eden Esports. It has already asked non-ESIC tournament organizers to honor these 37 coach bans for “the purpose of protecting the CS:GO esports scene internationally.”
ESIC sanction tiers
ESIC has set tiers for its penalties handed down to the 37 coaches. These sanctions range from a five-month ban to a ban of 36 months.
The organization also has a confession period, allowing coaches and players to come forward with admissions of guilt. These confessions also have tier rankings. Obviously, the confessions given prior to the announcement of the investigation carry the biggest weight. These confessions reduce the ban period by 40%. From there, the confession reductions range from Accepted in Full, Accepted (Partially), Assistance in Investigation, and Confession Rejected.
For a confession to be rejected, the Commissioner must find that the confession was neither accurate nor given with any remorse for the action. Thus far, 19 coaches have come forward with confessions of guilt.
In a closing message to the CS:GO community, the ESIC provided the following at the end of its report:
We understand that these revelations have been tough for many people within the CS:GO community, but we believe it is in the long term best interests of the game and all of esports for integrity breaches to be dealt with head on. We know that most coaches, players, tournament organizers, publishers and developers, fans, sponsors and broadcasters want CS:GO and esports to be clean and a fair competition between players and teams doing their very best to win. We see our job as being to ensure that that happens and that corrupt and bad actors are rehabilitated or removed.
Be sure to stay tuned regarding any additional updates to the ESICÂ CS:GOÂ bug investigation as it unfolds.
