The MOBA DOTA 2 (PC) has permanently banned one of its former world champions from participating in tournaments: The Chinese player Zeng “Faith” Hongda is involved in a match-fixing scandal. 4 other professional players were also banned for life from all tournaments organized by Valve and Perfect World.
Who is he? Zeng “Faith” Hongda (28) is a Chinese player in the MOBA DOTA 2. He celebrated his greatest success early in his career. In 2012, he was part of Invictus Gaming, which won “The International 2” – the massive DOTA tournament is unofficially considered the world championship in MOBA.
The tournament is considered incredibly lucrative. The prize money seemed relatively modest in 2011 at $1.6 million, but it has since risen to over $34 million.
Match-Fixing Scandal Catches Up with Team Newbee
What is the scandal about? In May 2020, it became known that the former members of the team “Newbee” would be permanently blacklisted in the Chinese league. Among the 5 players was also world champion Faith.
The operators of the new Chinese professional league decided that the team “Newbee” would be excluded from the tournament due to allegations that they had manipulated matches. Therefore, the 5 members of Newbee were no longer allowed to participate in events organized by ImbaTV and CDA.
At that time, the league operators claimed that they had sent material about the match-fixing to Valve and Perfect World.
Allegedly, the allegations revolved around a qualification series in February 2020 that appeared suspicious. The team denied the allegations at that time.
In match-fixing, professionals deliberately perform poorly or play in such a way that a specific outcome is achieved, with the intent to manipulate betting results. This problem has been on the rise in recent years, as esports has become increasingly attractive for sports betting, especially during the pandemic, there was apparently a boom in betting on esports events.
This is now the decision: In early 2021, the decision from Valve and Perfect World, the developers of the game and the Chinese publisher, came through. In fact, the ban on the 5 “Newbee” players from China is now enforced for all tournaments organized by Valve and Perfect World. This means that former world champion Faith and his teammates from Newbee are now permanently banned from DOTA 2.
Faith himself has already ended his career. Another star player from the team, Moogy, is already retired. The other 3 DOTA professionals are still active, but their careers are now practically over.
In addition to DOTA 2, Valve has another major esports title with CS:GO. There too, a scandal overshadowed esports. However, it was not about match-fixing but about exploiting an exploit:
In CS:GO, 37 coaches are banned for cheating – it’s already being called “The Purge”
