Valve’s new ban wave has hit CS:GO boosters and botters hard, with over 10,000 accounts banned. However, the studio isn’t done yet, asking the community for help to track down more.
The June 3 patch update made it a bit harder for cheaters to boost accounts by locking Prime Status behind a paywall. Soon after, an influx of bans in CS:GO started to be distributed.
A day after the Prime update, CS:GO ban-rate was 52-times higher than average in the past month, according to Convars, a community database that logs bans from CS:GO’s Matchmaking.
Most of these bans are believed to be boosters.
People have been orchestrating CS:GO matches filled with bots to boost accounts for the purposes of reselling them once they hit level 21 – which used to award it Prime Status.
can confirm 100% that it's a boosting ban wave, was provided this image by a booster.
seems like any account that was boosted up to prime (private rank 21) or partially levelled up via boosting xp is now gone. https://t.co/aLP1u7gccf pic.twitter.com/2lPL3bDf8G
— killa (@killa) June 4, 2021
With the revamp to Prime, however, that scheme has been derailed and now Valve are setting their sights on the accounts involved.
“Boosted accounts are getting in-game mass banned by the CS:GO team as we speak,” Twitter user ‘killa’ said.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“All of this is in correlation with the update that came out earlier today. Seems like they are taking harsh actions against boosters who previously got to PR21 [Prime Rank 21] via boosting.”
Read more: $250k IEM Summer 2021: Gambit sneak past Complexity
CSGO’s ranked matchmaking has been suffering for a while, especially after the game went free-to-play in 2018.
Valve’s endless battle against hackers or cheaters has made for an unpleasant experience when trying to queue up in the tactical shooter.
It looks like the studio will start to crack down harder on the problem, going by Valve Senior Software Engineer John McDonald’s call to arms.
- Read more: CSGO caster infiltrates broadcast in disguise to troll organizers for “underpaying” talent
“Send more reports of botting players or matches you encounter our way at csgoteamfeedback@valvesoftware.com with the subject ‘bot accounts,’” McDonald advised players.
Boosters are a never-ending battle for the CS:GO developers, but they seem resolved to finally stopping the plague once and for all.
