CS:GO player banned for cheating mid-match

A Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player was automatically banned mid-match last night for cheating.

During a game against Rize Gaming UK in the ESL UK Premiership, Joseph “Joee” Leigh, a prominent member of the UK CS:GO community, was removed from the server by ESL’s anti-cheat software. The match was forfeited and Rize Gaming UK advanced on through the tournament.

Any competitor caught by ESL Wire, as the anti-cheat cheating software is known, by default means that the cheater won’t be able to compete in ESL events. But last night, news site UKCSGO.com revealed that Joee would also not be allowed to compete at the UK-based LAN event Insomnia, which hosts tournaments in several different games, for at least one year.

Following his unceremonious exit from the server, Joee admitted that he purchased a private cheat from a Ukrainian developer under the pseudonym keybode. The 23-year old also appeared unrepentant, explaining to UKCSGO.com that “It’s just a game. It was fun and it’s still fun looking at the tweets, no harm done to anyone so whats the problem.”

Cheating in CS:GO has been a major talking point since two professional players were caught red-handed in 2014. While the presence of Valve’s own anti-cheat software mitigates a fair amount of cheats, the two players in question, Hovik “KQLY” Tovmassian and Gordon “Sf” Giry, went undiscovered until ESEA conducted their own investigation and compiled and sent the evidence to Valve.