Veteran Counter-Strike pro could lose his Steam account forever because of ludicrous Valve rule

Former CS:GO and VALORANT pro Bradley “Android” Fodor has lost access to his Steam account after changing his phone number and Valve’s support told him he can only recover the account if he provides the original CD Key that was used to create that Steam account.

Given how Android complained on Twitter and the fact that his Steam account was created over 15 years ago, it’s likely that he threw away the CD Key a long time ago. The Canadian has in-game CS:GO stickers and CS:GO emblems like the one he got for reaching the quarterfinals of the FACEIT London Major with Complexity back in 2018, but this isn’t considered valid proof of ownership, according to Valve’s support, and neither are documents like a passport and driver’s license.

“I sent them my passport and driver’s license,” Android said on Twitter. “I also offered to give them my birth certificate, but it was not enough to get the account back. Looks like I’ll never get my steam account back. I put my life into getting the quarter-finalist emblem/stickers, and because I changed my number, I’ll never see it again. So sad man… who has their original CD keys with a 15+ year account…”

Nikola “LEGIJA” Ninić, another former professional player, told Android that he ran into the same issue once and that he convinced Valve to give his Steam account back after mentioning that he had stickers on his account and that Valve paid him sticker money. LEGIJA said he told Valve that his Steam ID should be enough and Valve apologized to him afterward.

Android played CS:GO professionally from 2015 to 2020, and most notably was a part of Complexity and Envy during his career. He helped Complexity reach the quarterfinals of the FACEIT London Major in September 2018 alongside Rory “dephh” Jackson, yay, Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz, and ShahZaM. The Canadian departed CS:GO esports to play VALORANT professionally in 2020 and hung up his mouse and keyboard in 2023 to go to university.

It’s likely that Android wants to play Counter-Strike 2 on his account, but he can’t until Valve solves his problem.

Dot Esports reached out to Valve but has received no response at this time.