One year ago Valve laid down the banhammer on seven individuals who were found guilty of purposefully losing CS: GO matches in order to profit from bets. It was the single biggest case of match fixing in eSports history, leading to a dissolve of popular North American teams and career reconsideration among some of the game's best players.
Despite the enormity of the situation, some of these banned players were hopeful that the bans would be temporary. During recent weeks as several teams, such as Cloud 9 and Team Liquid, have looked to fill out their rosters, there has been talk about the bans being lifted, and several of these ex-active players joining the ranks.
To their dismay, Valve has set these bans as permanent as stated in its latest blog post, stating "To clarify, the bans for these players are permanent, and players proven to have taken part in match-fixing will be permanently banned."
The CS: GO community has had mixed reaction. Some stand firmly behind Valve as it looks to set an example that match fixing has a zero tolerance policy, while others are upset that the players banned were important figures in the North American CS: GO scene, and would benefit the struggling region tremendously.
To be clear, these bans are only for Valve-related "major" tournaments. Technically speaking, the players can still compete in ESEA, FACEIT, and more, but their ban from the most significant tournaments makes them unattractive pick-ups for teams looking to top the ranks.
