ESIC finishes CSGO coaching bug investigation, verdict coming soon

By Nick Johnson

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Sep 24, 2020

Reading time: 2 min

The Esports Integrity Commission is set to release the results of its investigation into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s coaching exploit, but there’s a “but.”

After the reveal that several professional CSGO coaches used an exploit to gain an unfair advantage in professional games going as far back as 2015, the Commission will release its findings on Monday, September 28, according to a tweet from the organization’s official Twitter account.

The news of the longstanding exploit rocked the CSGO world as more than 10 professional coaches were implicated in its use over a wide range of tournaments, most notably two of Valve’s Regional Ranking tournaments used to determine placements at the upcoming ESL Major.

Steve Dudenhoeffer, one of the independent referees that helped initially investigate the bug, said that he and fellow referee Michael Slowinski had found cases coaches using the exploit that dated back to 2015.

The revelation that the exploit, which essentially allowed coaches to move their field of view in the middle of rounds, shocked the community and caused many coaches to come forward and admit that they had used the exploit at one point or another over the years. The ESIC has said that Monday’s announcement is only the first set of announcements, but even that comes with a big “but.” In a follow-up tweet, the ESIC said that their report would hinge on any potential conflicts between the ESIC and its stakeholders.

These stakeholders include ESL, BLAST, and DreamHack, and it is unclear what complications should arise, and whether or not this will affect the ESIC’s final reporting or the date at which it is reported. Regardless, fans should have more information surrounding the punishments for CSGO coaches and teams by Monday.

Want to see the full list of teams and coaches implicated in the exploit? Click here.