Ian Smith, Commissioner of the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), has announced upcoming large-scale sanctions against rule violators on the professional Counter-Strike scene in an interview with pley.gg.
According to Smith, the regulator will soon publish new disciplinary rulings that will result in additional bans. The sanctions will target two categories of individuals:
- Active players competing at lower-tier levels of the professional scene.
- Former esports players who are currently involved in corrupt activities, including organizing match-fixing schemes and supplying cheats.
Smith emphasized that the identities of those set to be banned will not come as a surprise to people who closely follow developments within the Counter-Strike ecosystem.
He also noted that the overall situation has improved significantly in recent years, with reports of cheating and suspicious betting activity declining on an annual basis. However, at the Tier-2 and Tier-3 levels, the primary issues remain radar hacks and players watching match broadcasts on a secondary screen to gain an unfair advantage.
In contrast, cheating at the Tier-1 level is considered extremely rare. The high level of oversight and the severe risks associated with being caught make such behavior largely unjustifiable for top professional players.
ESIC also stated that it does not currently view situations where betting companies own esports organizations as a major integrity concern.
According to Smith, the biggest obstacle facing the regulator remains a severe lack of funding. Despite handling a comparable number of investigations, ESIC operates with a budget that amounts to less than 20% of the funding available to the equivalent integrity body in professional tennis.
As a reminder, Activision has confirmed that the upcoming re-releases of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be ports rather than full remasters.