Valve: "Match-fixing bans permanent"

 Valve has announced that players involved in match-fixing activities are permanently banned from its tournaments.

 Exactly one year ago, match-fixing became a hot topic in the Counter-Strike scene as a report from the Daily Dot's Richard Lewis revealed that the former iBUYPOWER had lost a CEVO match on purpose to profit from high-value bets placed by smurf accounts on the opposing team.

 An investigation launched by Valve resulted in bans being handed out to seven people, including ex-iBP quartet Sam "DaZeD" Marine, Braxton "swag" Pierce, Keven "AZK" Lariviere and Joshua "steel" Nissan.

"Professional Counter-Strike is very important to us and to our community. The audience’s trust in the integrity of the sport has allowed it to grow to the point where it entertains millions of fans. To ensure that the highest level of competition continues to entertain, that integrity can never be called into question.

 Back in January and early February 2015 we took action after we discovered that a small number of professional CS:GO players were engaged in match-fixing. Our decision was to ban these players indefinitely from involvement in Valve-sponsored events. To clarify, the bans for these players are permanent, and players proven to have taken part in match-fixing will be permanently banned.

 As the scene grows, it’s an unfortunate reality that some individuals will seek opportunities to take advantage of their fans. We will continue to take whatever action we think is necessary to protect the entertainment value created by professional Counter-Strike, including, on occasion, terminating our relationship with individuals who have demonstrated a willingness to exploit their fans’ faith in the integrity of the sport.

 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."

 Months later, a similar case rocked the French scene as four of Epsilon's players were found guilty of deliberately losing a match to profit from it. When announcing these bans, Valve stated that the restrictions would "not be re-evaluated before 2016", which many interpreted as a sign that the all match-fixing suspensions could eventually be lifted.

 Robin "GMX" Stahmer and Joey "fxy0" Schlosser - two of Epsilon's players involved in the scandal - recently returned to activity and joined teams, but their hopes of attending a major have been quashed by Valve, which, in a blog post, declared that all players who are found guilty of match-fixing will be banned permanently, in order to ensure that the integrity of top-flight competition "can never be called into question."