Valve released a major update to its CS:GO Regional Major Rankings system yesterday, announcing huge changes that affect coaching. These changes follow the fallout from the coaching spectator bug scandal of 2020.
The biggest change comes in the form of coaches not being allowed on the server or in the same room as players during an online map. And the reaction from pro players and coaches hasn’t been positive. They view the new ruling as an overreaction and think it’s unfair to coaches who did nothing wrong. And since the coaches who got caught are already suspended by the ESIC and now banned from Valve Majors, the new rule only affects those who did nothing wrong.
Astralis’ coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen, a Coach of the Year winner, said this was “a sad day for Counter-Strike.” His star player, Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz, mocked the decision by Valve to punish all of the coaches instead of just the ones who cheated. He also took a shot at Valve for including 100 Thieves stickers in the new update despite the organization no longer fielding an active CS:GO roster.
Criticism arose from outside the Astralis ranks as well. Evil Geniuses’ coach Wilton “zews” Prado said it was “heartbreaking and infuriating” to be punished when he did nothing wrong.
Former Ninjas in Pyjamas coach Faruk Pita, who had his ESIC ban reduced for cooperation and confession, called out Valve for not dealing with the issues after he brought it to the company’s attention. He also criticized Valve for its lack of attentiveness to CS:GO compared to how Riot is with VALORANT.
This isn’t the first time a coaching decision from Valve has angered the pro CS:GO community, though. Numerous other coaches and players retweeted the above sentiments, as well as several similar ones. We’ll see how teams react to this decision going forward on the road to Stockholm, the $2 million Major set to take place from Oct. 23 to Nov. 7.
