The team OpTic Gaming was denied second place in a high-stakes tournament at PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). A wall glitch cost the team $12,000, about €9,750. The alleged cheater stated, “It was an accident, the glitch doesn’t really provide any advantage.”
PUBG has some glitches and exploits that professional players are aware of. One of those was OpTic Gaming’s downfall. Player Ian “Bahawaka” Crowe is accused of having used a glitch that allowed him to see through a wall. This is frowned upon in eSports and has serious consequences.
As reported by Kotaku, the incident occurred in the eighth game of the PUBG Invitational tournament in Katowice. Bahawaka moved in a specific way that made a wall transparent, allowing him to briefly look outside from the safety of a building to survey the surroundings.
Another eSports professional explained this glitch on Twitter. According to Scoom from Team Liquid, the glitch is specific and can hardly be invoked accidentally.
You need to move in a certain way to do this. You also likely need to consciously holster and unholster the weapon. The glitch is thus reproducible if you know what you’re doing.
Cheater says: It was an accident, the glitch brings no advantage in the situation
The alleged cheater says on reddit that he just wanted to be in the corner to hear better what was happening outside. Anyone who saw the match or knows the terrain would know that having visibility here provides no advantage.
In any case, the tournament organizers punished OpTic Gaming and denied them the victory in the match where the glitch was applied. The organizers cite a clause in the rulebook that prohibits such visibility glitches.
Without the points from the won game eight, OpTic Gaming dropped from second place to fifth and lost the prize money of $12,000. They left empty-handed.
The incident seems to confirm the concerns of many that PUBG is not polished and clean enough to function as an eSport.
Last week, we reported on further issues plaguing PUBG as an eSport title:
Forsen wins celebrity tournament in PUBG, bores the audience
