ESIC Claims to Have Proof That CS:GO Teams Were Stream-Sniping in Online Events

Aditya Singh Rawat
Published On: 
ESIC Claims to Have Proof That CS:GO Teams Were Stream-Sniping in Online Events
  • ESIC will soon be releasing a statement on 'Stream-Sniping Abuse'.
  • Ian Smith claims to have evidence that both players and coaches are involved.
  • ESIC might not be able to investigate the matter in great depth due to limited resources at their disposal.

A day after Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) released a preliminary report on the ongoing ‘Spectator Bug Abuse’ investigation which observed 37 CS:GO coaches being issued a ban, it seems the organization is now preparing to release a statement against ‘Stream-Sniping Abuse’ as well. In the latest episode of HLTV Confirmed, ESIC Commissioner Ian Smith was seen talking about how both players and coaches were caught stream-sniping their own matches during the online tournaments.

RELATED:  ESIC Bans 37 CS:GO Coaches For Spectator Bug Abuse


ESIC To Release Statement Against Stream-Sniping Abuse

While the ‘Spectator Bug Abuse’ investigation is still underway with only 20% of the total number of demos having being reviewed, another exploit seems to have come under ESIC’s radar. According to the organization’s head, ever since competitive CS:GO shifted online due to the global health situation ‘Stream-Sniping Abuse’ has started to take place.

Both players and coaches have been caught by ESIC watching the streams of their own matches, Ian Smith while talking about it says that “Given the delay between real-time action and the stream is limited, but there is some useful information there and on top of that it is against the rules. It is not about how badly you are cheating, it is against the rules to be on the stream.”

He went on to reveal that ESIC received “perfectly factually substantiated” reports related to members of a team watching their own matches and that a statement on the matter will soon be released from their side.


At the moment there is no information about the teams, players, or coaches involved in this or how many matches might have been affected by it. In order to know this, an investigation must be carried out but as the commission’s resources are stretched thin due to another CS:GO match-fixing investigation currently being working upon, this has to be put on indefinite hold.

RELATED:  ESIC Currently Investigating 15 Potential MDL Match-Fixing Instances in CS:GO

For now, ESIC is focusing on finishing their report on the ‘Spectator Bug Incident’ which is supposed to get over by the end of October while simultaneously also working on the above mentioned match-fixing scandal which might indirectly affect the North American VALORANT scene as well.




author profile picture
Aditya is the in-house CS:GO writer at AFK Gaming. While his understanding of the esports space is not restricted by geographical borders, his current focus lies in the Asian region. Understands and follows almost all major esport titles.