Counter-Strike Global Offensive 2 is a hugely popular shooter, once played by more than 1.52 million people at the same time. However, as popular as it is, it tends to attract cheaters. Success in the game can lead to places on esports teams and big cash prizes, so people look to get ahead with any advantage they can.
That’s led to developer Valve implementing a new fix, one that has seen players dying on screen as they cheat. It’s a huge development, and it is hoped it might increase the game’s appeal to other players. So, how big a problem is cheating in esports, Counter-Strike 2, and what will the fix do about it?
Cheating in esports
Just like in traditional sports, cheating can take various forms, including hacking, exploiting bugs, match-fixing, or using performance-enhancing drugs. Hacking and exploiting bugs can give players unfair advantages, such as aimbots or wallhacks in first-person shooters or exploiting glitches in the game to gain an edge. Match-fixing involves players intentionally losing or manipulating the outcome of a match for financial gain, sometimes through esports betting.
Esports organizations and game developers have implemented various measures to combat cheating, including anti-cheat software, strict rules and regulations, and penalties for offenders. However, the ever-evolving nature of technology means that new cheating methods can emerge, requiring constant vigilance and adaptation from the esports community. Maintaining the integrity of esports competitions is crucial for the growth and sustainability of the industry, as cheating scandals can damage the reputation of both individual players and the entire esports ecosystem.
Cheating in Counter-Strike 2
Counter-Strike 2 is a hugely lucrative and popular esport. We’ve already explained how it once had more than 1.5 million concurrent players, but this Counter-Strike 2 betting guide outlines how the prize pool at The Major Tournament in 2024 was over $1.25 million. With money like that at stake, it is not hard to see where the issues arise with people looking to gain a competitive edge. Whilst we’ve outlined cheating in esports in general, cheating in Counter-Strike 2 takes on slightly more specific forms.
Cheating in Counter-Strike 2 can occur through various means, and cheaters often employ sophisticated techniques to avoid detection. For instance, external cheats are programs that run alongside the game and inject code into the game’s process. They can include wallhacks (allowing players to see through walls), aimbots (automatically aiming at opponents), and other hacks that give unfair advantages. External cheats can be harder to detect because they don’t modify the game files directly.
Cheaters may use disposable Steam accounts to avoid bans. When one account gets banned, they create a new one and continue cheating, making it difficult for anti-cheat systems to track repeat offenders. Skilled players may create secondary accounts (smurfs) to play against lower-skilled opponents. While not inherently cheating, smurf accounts can disrupt fair matchmaking and create an unfair playing field.
Cheats are becoming more sophisticated, and some are designed to evade detection by anti-cheat systems. Cheaters may use private or custom-made cheats that aren’t detected by popular anti-cheat software like Valve’s VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) system. However, VAC bans are not always correct—Valve had to reverse a wave of bans from late last year when gamers had used AMD’s Anti-Lag+ feature.
Technology isn’t always the problem in Counter-Strike cheating; sometimes, location can be to blame. In LAN (Local Area Network) events, where players compete in the same physical location, cheating can be more challenging but still possible through devices like cheat-enabled USB sticks or exploiting vulnerabilities in tournament setups.
How bad is the problem?
Whilst cheating has been a serious problem in Counter-Strike 2, Valve has been committed to sorting it out. They have to – two of the most popular players have decided to quit the game recently. Anomaly has over 3 million subscribers on YouTube, and his channel has a lot of Counter-Strike 2, content on it. However, he recently said, “There is just no way I can play Counter-Strike with the state that the game is in right now, and I’m not the only one. So many people, content creators included, are just absolutely fed up with the state that the game is currently in.
He’s not the only one. Warowl has almost 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, and he is known for playing the game since its original launch in 2000. He, too, is quitting ‘Until they fix the cheater problem.’ “There’s a lot more cheaters in high-rated Premier matches [Counter-Strike 2’s main competitive mode], way more than there used to be,” he added. As big-name players leave, the game’s reputation suffers, which is bad for business.
What has Valve done?
The developer has to take steps, and recently, it has taken the tentative first few that might be needed to salvage its reputation. A Counter-Strike 2 new wave ban is in place, targeting certain types of cheats, namely those using rapid fire or ‘no spread’ hacks that remove weapon recoil. It has resulted in some funny footage of players dying on-screen during gameplay. It seems the latest tech is not just implementing a ban but literally killing off those who exploit the system in mid-game! Data hasn’t dropped just yet, but it is believed that the weekend of April 27 saw more bans for cheating than at any time in the last five years.
Will it be enough? Counter-Strike 2 needs to go a bit further, and a new anti-cheat measure known as Overwatch (not connected to the game of the same name) is due to be released. Trusted players will review game footage to identify aimbots or other hacks and then drop punishments and bans as they see fit.
Conclusion
The global esports market is worth around $1.64 billion, with first-person shooters accounting for a big chunk of that. Counter-Strike 2 is one of the major titles, but that could change if the cheating persists. It seems Valve has identified this as a threat to their market share and, hopefully, implemented a fix quickly enough.
