CS2 players dare to hope again as growing banwave promises better matchmaking experience

At the tail end of April, Counter-Strike 2 players started noticing a ban wave with hundreds of cheaters getting slammed with the ban hammer, even during live matches. This sparked new hope in the community.

On May 5, a player posted ConVars data on CS2‘s subreddit, claiming the recent ban wave is bigger than the previous one. Relived players are now thanking the developer for its efforts in fighting cheaters. They’ve been running rampant since September 2023, discouraging players from playing the game.

“I just checked my stats for banned players from my previously played matches, wooohoooo. 20 players banned, previously were 10. We played 2 days ago, and an asshole were banned right during the match. We played versus a cheater yesterday… he is already banned. That’s fucking fantastic,” the top comment reads. They used data from third-party websites like leetify, which allows you to keep track of players you played with that are now banned.

But players pointed out the author of the post relied on a small sample of data, which consisted of only a few hundred bans. They’re reluctant to be optimistic this early.

After weeks of never-ending complaints, it’s still rejuvenating to see Valve actually doing something to battle cheaters in CS2. The Premier mode has been unplayable for the past couple of months due to the number of cheaters found in these matches, with FACEIT being the only sensible option for players. Hopefully, the mode becomes more enjoyable following the latest ban wave.