ESIC suspends 37 CS:GO coaches for exploiting 'Spectator Bug' during matches

On Monday, The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) released the preliminary report on the 'Spectator Bug investigation' in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. 37 CS:GO coaches have been suspended by ESIC, who have been found guilty of exploiting the bug during various matches over the past four years or so. Coaches have been banned for as little as three months to 36 months, based on the severity of their violation.

"On 4 September, ESIC announced an investigation into the historical abuse of a bug CS:GO's spectator mode (Spectator Bug). ESIC contracted the services of Michal Slowinski (the discoverer of wrongful use of this exploit) to work with ESIC in the fulfilment of the inquiry. This statement sets out the findings of the first part of our investigation," ESIC's press release read. 

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ESIC initially estimated the need to review around 25,000 demos to access the exploitation of the spectator bug. However, the esports governing body later retrieved 90,650 demos from the databases, which amounts to over 15TB of data. Monday's findings were a result of the review of just 20% of the total demos. However, ESIC is confident that it only another 0.1% of the remaining demos have signs of exploitation of the bug. The final investigation report will be released in October. 

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The Spectator Bug allows coaches to become spectators during CS:GO matches, effectively allowing them to have a bird's eye view at a section of the map, which can then be used to gather information on enemy movement and tactics. There have been reports of coaches exploiting this bug to gain an unfair advantage during matches for over four years now. Former Na’Vi coach Sergey “⁠starix⁠” Ischuk admitted via Twitter that he came to know about the bug four years ago.

Former Ninjas in Pyjamas coach Faruk "pita" Pita also admitted that he used the bug once, but refrained from exploiting it again as he thought he owed it to the CS:GO community. "The reason why I did this was obviously that I was remorseful but also at the same time I wanted to get a fix to this,” Pita said in a TwitLonger. “We didn’t play much online games in NiP so I wanted to get this fixed for the sake of the community.”

Pita, as well as starix⁠, were handed a 10-month suspension for his involvement. MechanoGun was handed a 36-month suspension, while Rejin was suspended for 19.8 months. 

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ESIC suspends CS:GO coaches: Full list

The implicated coaches will be eligible to file an appeal by sending an email to Kevin Carpenter, the Chairman of the Independent Disciplinary Panel.

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(Image Credits: CS:GO Official Website)