DOTA 2 is one of the biggest games in eSports. Last week, Valve and Perfect World Esports banned a total of 46 eSports players. Two entire teams were caught, and 21 players were permanently banned.
Which game is it about?
- DOTA 2 is a free-to-play MOBA developed by Valve and distributed on Steam.
- “The International,” the World Championship of DOTA 2, has an annual prize pool in the double-digit millions and is considered the game with the highest winnings.
- The International 2021 is considered the eSport tournament with the largest prize pool of all time at 40 million US dollars.
- The “The International 2022” had a prize pool of 18.9 million US dollars. The winning team “Tundra Esports” won 8.5 million US dollars. The German professional Leon “Nine” Kirilin was part of it.
What kind of ban is this? Perfect World Esports is the Chinese partner of Valve to conduct the eSports of DOTA 2 and CS:GO in China. On Thursday, March 9, 2023, Perfect World Esports announced on Twitter that a list of DOTA 2 eSports players was banned for Valve and Perfect World Esports tournaments.
Why were the players banned? Valve and Perfect World Esports did not mention a specific reason for the players’ bans.
In the statement on Twitter, Perfect World simply wrote that the players were banned “due to violations of eSports integrity.”
Entire pro teams banned
Which players were banned and for how long? A total of 46 players were banned, of which according to PC Gamer, 21 pros were banned for life. In addition, 13 players received a 2-year ban. The remaining 12 players were banned for “only” one year.
Among the bans, two Chinese teams were particularly hard hit, who participated in the Major tournament in Lima at the end of February/beginning of March – EHOME and Knights/Antarctic Penguins (via dota2.com)
- EHOME: Three players received a two-year ban, one player is banned for one year, and the fifth player is permanently banned from participating in tournaments.
- Knights/Antarctic Penguins: Both the four new players and the old team were also banned, as was the remaining XCJ.
- The 4 former Knights players, who last played under the team “Solitude” (formerly “Dawn Gaming”), were permanently banned.
- Of the four new players, one was permanently banned, two for 2 years, and one for one year.
The 46 banned eSports athletes do not face their fate alone. Just at the end of February, Valve banned over 40,000 cheaters in DOTA 2.
