Riot Games Officially Shares Details on Xhade’s Recent Ban
- Riot Games officially responded to IGN India on the recent ban of Valorant player Xhade.
- The player was caught cheating by Riot and was permanently banned from the game.
- Riot revealed that Xhade was using "third-party software" that are not allowed by the game's terms of service.
The Indian esports community witnessed yet another unfortunate cheating controversy unfold with Abhay "Xhade" Urkude of team Paratroops being disqualified from the recently concluded The Esports League Invitational. While the ban's reasons were unknown at the time, the player confessed that he made use of wallhacks in a Discord conversation. IGN India reached out to Riot Games today, and the respondents at Riot revealed that Xhade was making use of “prohibited third-party software.” Xhade was removed from his team, and the organization disbanded following the incident. The player has deleted his YouTube channel and other social media accounts after confessing to the community.
Riot’s Statement on Xhade
Image Credit: Psy
Riot Games’ full statement to IGN India reads:
"After further investigation, the player, Xhade, was found to be using prohibited third-party software. Our security software, Riot Vanguard, detected this and banned the account. The player in question accepted to have used the prohibited software and violated our code of conduct. As a result, his account will stay permanently suspended.
We at Riot promote a friendly and healthy competitive experience for our players and resorting to the use of prohibited software is against the community standards. We stand by the account suspension."
The Consequences of The Ban on Xhade
Xhade admitted his offenses and deleted his YouTube Channel and other social media accounts. Soon after his ban, another Paratroops player ‘Binks’ was suspended by ESPL for account sharing and colluding. He received a six-month ban from ESPL, and his team was barred from tournaments for the same duration. The roster disbanded a day after their bans were announced. Xhade is the first Indian pro player to be caught cheating and it is unfortunately not the first time such an incident has taken place in Indian esports.
The incident occurred within 10 days of Riot Games officially announcing their entry in India. Xhade was barred from competing in The Esports Club Invitational, but his team was allowed to play with a substitute. Since his ban, his team owner and players tried to make him confess if he had been cheating but did not receive a truthful response from him.
Xhade’s teammate ‘Binks’ and other Indian pro players confronted him on Discord which led to the former player confessing. He claimed that he used “wallhacks”, but Riot did not specify in their response to IGN what kind of cheats were used by the player. After the incident, Team Mahi CEO SENTINEL urged the community not to resort to cheating as it adversely affects everyone in the Indian esports community. Other players and team owners have also requested the community to refrain from personal attacks on Xhade.
Follow us on social media
