In what’s fast becoming a regular part of the news cycle, PUBG Corp. has just swung the ban hammer again. This time around it has issued competitive bans against a number of professional players who have been caught cheating in the PUBG Europe League (PEL).
The last penalties of this kind were issued less than a month ago, when four pro players were issued with three-year bans from the National PUBG League (NPL) for making use of an unauthorised program.
Now, 12 more players have been banned and PUBG Corp. shared a statement via twitter explaining the situation. Six of the players involved had utilised an unauthorised program in at least one professional game of PUBG, four had cheated in public games – but not in any professional setting – and two were penalised for having full knowledge of their teammates’ use of cheats.
Competitive Ruling: Multiple Players Read: https://t.co/R9C00ctK9R
PUBG Esports (@PUBGEsports) January 7, 2019
Three year bans have been handed out to those who cheated in a professional setting, as well as the two players who were aware of their teammates’ activities. Those who cheated in public matches will receive two year bans instead
Here are all the players involved:
- “Avalon”
- “Smitty”
- “Papaya”
- “Cabecao”
- “TEXQS”
- “S1D”
- “swalker”
- “zuppaa”
- “Houlow”
- “sezk0”
- “THZ”
- “Fr_Steph”
Three teams have been affected by these bans, “Sans domicile fixe”, “Red Diamonds” and “Pittsburgh Knights”. These organisations will need to replace those team members who were caught cheating, but will not be exempt from joining any future events as PUBG Corp has no suspicion they were aware of any cheating among their roster.
PUBG’s a relative newcomer to the esport scene, but has already taken a firm stance against anyone found to be undermining the competitive game’s integrity. The recent ban waves have clearly taught PUBG Corp. to be more stringent with its vetting process, as it’s now become mandatory for all players “to go through a background check on all accounts they own” for “all upcoming esports competitions”.
While the number of bans has been extensive and ruthless, it’s certainly provided a stepping stone to a better PUBG esports scene.
