After an extensive investigation within Heroic, the organization has suspended CS:GO coach Nicolai “Hunden” Petersen for his use of a spectator bug that allowed coaches to have a static view over a certain area of a map during a live game.
The team’s investigation discovered that the bug was done deliberately during Heroic’s match against Astralis at DreamHack Malmö 2020 and was also used during their match against Spirit at Home Sweet Home Cup 5. As a result of his actions, Hunden was banned from playing or coaching competitively for 12 months.
“The recent allegations made against me are true,” Hunden said in an official statement. “I take full responsibility for my actions during the Dreamhack Masters tournament and HomeSweetHomeCup 5. CS:GO at the top level is super competitive, and I saw an edge which I knew was wrong, but I took it and used the bug in-game.”
This spectator glitch has been available since the coaching feature was introduced to the game. It was supposedly fixed three years ago but recently popped back up in tournaments. Hunden also explained that he felt remorse for using the glitch and decided to contact Michau Slowinski, the ESL admin, to point out that the bug was still in the game.
Heroic also said that after more investigations and reviews of game recordings, none of their players were aware or complicit of the bug and how Hunden abused it throughout the match.
The 29-year-old coach will now be removed from the team’s active roster for the foreseeable future. Heroic, meanwhile, will have to search for a new head coach while they power on through the rest of 2020.
