https://www.cybersport.ru/dota-2/articles/glavnye-skandaly-2020-goda-domogatelstva-problemnyi-reliz-cyberpunk-2077-i-perekhod-zayac-v-vp

Zayac’s transition from NAVI to Virtus.pro

Rumors about the possible departure of Bakyt Zayac Emilzhanov from Natus Vincere and his intentions to join Virtus.pro appeared at the end of January, and soon the plan came into play: the player took advantage of the loophole in the contract with NAVI and terminated the agreement, having the opportunity to freely move to the Solo team. The Dota 2 community was divided into two camps: some supported Zayac and wished him the best in the new roster, others called him a traitor and condemned him for burning all the bridges behind him.

Later, the CEO of NAVI Evgeny Zolotarev commented on the situation, saying that none of the Dota 2 players even thought that Emilzhanov could leave, and as a result of this uncoordinated transfer, the team found itself in a difficult situation.

However, in the long run from this story, it seems that everyone has won – except perhaps Zayac himself. NAVI disbanded the roster and signed FlyToMoon, which Evgeny Zolotarev called the best decision of the club in Dota 2 in several years. After a series of rearrangements, Virtus.pro ended up with a promising (and already showing results!) Roster with gpK ~, Save- and epileptick1d, and the professional CIS scene seems to have received some regulation rules – or at least made the first steps in this direction.

Scandalous dissolution of forZe

On January 15, forZe signed the line-up of Ivan VANSKOR Skorokhod. The team managed to perform at several tournaments, but in March the organization disbanded the roster, and also fined him half his salary, as reported v1lat. Commentator suggestedthat this happened because of the video of the streamer TraVoMaN, which pointed to the unsportsmanlike behavior of Yegor 19teen Leksyutin in a rating match. Unfortunately for the team, the main sponsor of forZe, Lukoil, also drew attention to the situation, which, according to an OverDrive insider, fined the club a million rubles. Later, the captain of the roster spoke about what happened. VANSKOR… is he reportedthat at the time of the conflict between 19teen and TraVoMaN the roster was no longer related to forZe, and also spoke about the problems with the bootcamp, having launched a meme about the hairdryer in the community – the club allegedly refused to provide the players with such a necessary device in everyday life. ForZe CEO Sergey MegioN Ignatko in response statedthat “the players of the line-up got drunk”.

A couple of weeks later, it became known that the organization had canceled the fines of the players and paid them full salaries. VANSKOR notedthat this happened after the team began to “dig under the lawsuit.” Ultimately, the scandal was resolved, but this story will be remembered by the esports community for a long time to come.

Newbee fake matches

In May, the famous Chinese club Newbee was accused of participating in fake matches on the competitive scene of Dota 2. The organization and the players of the roster were banned for life at Imba Media and MarsTV tournaments. Representatives of the Chinese Professional Dota 2 Teams Association (CDA) also said that they carefully checked the information about the club’s fraudulent activities and sent the evidence to Valve and Perfect World for further investigation, and the players were banned from participating in leagues and tournaments held under the auspices of the CDA.

Newbee later denied the roster’s participation in fake matches and challenged the ban. The organization said that the CDA did not provide any evidence that Newbee was involved in the fraud, and also demanded that all statements made be canceled and that an investigation be carried out properly. In addition, the club noted that the players were threatened and also forced to “make false statements.” After that, information about the further fate of Newbee was no longer reported, but after a few months three of the participants in the banned roster resumed their performance at the championships from the tournament operator Perfect World. Or maybe it was all planned action?

Scandal with trainers on the CS: GO stage

In August, ESL and DreamHack reported after investigating that they had banned Hard Legion Esports, Heroic and MIBR coaches from their tournaments for using a CS: GO bug. An error in the game allowed coaches to follow the actions of opponents right during the matches. The flaw appeared in the shooter a long time ago, but they began to talk about it actively during the pandemic, since all tournaments began to be held online.

The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) also conducted its own investigation and published disappointing results – the organization removed 34 more coaches from participating in tournaments. Most of all in the CS: GO community they were surprised by the bans of Sergey lmbt Bezhanov and Sergey starix Ischuk. The latter, prior to publication from ESIC, actively criticized those who were caught using the bug, and then humbly accepted the punishment, specifying only that he did not remember when he stumbled. Bezhanov declared that he was innocent, and for a long time demanded a revision of the results of the check. After a month, ESIC dropped all charges against lmbt, and he was able to return to work with the team.

As for the rest of the banned coaches, many clubs refused their services, and some continued to work with the culprits. Be that as it may, the scandal became, perhaps, the loudest on the stage since the KQLY ban.

Sexism and harassment

Perhaps the most talked about topic of 2023 was harassment allegations that have swept across esports. First, the Dota 2 community began to discuss act caster Andrew Zyori Campbell, which cosplayer ashnichrist told about. The girl claimed that he forced her to have sex, to which Campbell replied that he was sure of mutual sympathy.

After the ashnichrist’s story, a wave of confessions about such cases were launched on the network. Dota 2 commentators Grant GranDGranT Harris and Toby TobiWan Dawson, as well as professional Dota 2 players Jimmy DeMoN Ho and Weising SingSing Yuan, were accused of harassment of famous esports personalities. As a result, the Beyond the Summit studio refused to cooperate with Dawson, and Valve removed his phrases from the chat wheel in Dota 2. Most of his colleagues and fans also turned their backs on TobiWan, although public evidence of what happened was never provided – the community simply believed on the word of his ex girl. As a result, Dawson’s career actually ended.

Another story, albeit with a similar outcome, happened with host Paul RedEye Chaloner. CS: GO commentator James Banks stated that Chaloner tried to ruin his career by using his own influence on the stage, and also regularly beat colleagues and behaved inappropriately in tournaments. Perhaps RedEye could have responded to these allegations, but Banks subsequently published a new entry in which he revealed that Cheloner had beaten his wife in front of his children, and provided details of the investigation into this case as evidence. RedEye said that the court acquitted him, but he does not intend to continue working in the industry, endangering his family. So eSports lost its presenter with almost twenty years of experience.

A wave of accusations of harassment hurt and one of the largest game studios – Ubisoft. Complaints first went to Ubisoft Toronto Vice Presidents Maxim Beland and Tommy François, Chief Creative Officer Serge Askue, Canada Head Yannis Mallat, Human Resources Director Cecile Cornet, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Creative Director Ashraf Ismail. Following the media coverage of the scandal, several high-ranking officials were fired or suspended from their posts. All this affected the company’s share price, which fell 9%.

Later, journalist Jason Schreier said that Ubisoft employees have faced sexism, racism and inappropriate behavior from former company executives many times. For example, Askue often bullied girls at work and held business meetings in strip clubs where he forced colleagues to drink.

Pirates captured the broadcasts of Dota 2 tournaments

The topic of piracy of broadcasts of tournament matches has been discussed in the community for many years. If in CS: GO in 2019 Valve partially clarified this issue, in Dota 2 the topic was ignored by the publisher for a long time. Previously, Papich took some of the viewers of official Dota 2 broadcasts, and in 2023, studios and tournament operators have a new enemy – Eugene Sh4dowehhh Alekseev. The situation worsened most of all when, in May, commentator Vitaly v1lat Volochay noticed that Alekseev had advertising banners on his personal broadcast of matches of the Gamers Without Borders 2023 charity tournament. Sh4dowehhh responded by saying that competitive Dota 2 will be hit harder by the lack of alternative broadcasts than piracy, so he will continue to stream matches from other competitions. V1lat later recalled that Sh4dowehhh violated Valve’s rules by showing advertisements on broadcasts of official games. He also suggested to streamers option, in which they will be able to show Dota 2 tournament matches and not take away the audience from the copyright holders.

The quote is published preserving the spelling and punctuation of the source

In addition to Dragging, the topic of piracy was discussed by other casters who were unhappy with the situation and the silence on the part of the game developers. A similar discussion arose in the English-speaking community. Former pro Dota 2 player and caster Kyle Kyle Friedman toldhow organizers are monetizing content and why individual streamers get in the way.

A few months later, Valve intervened in a conflict between streamers and tournament organizers. Dota 2 developers in September published rules and clarified controversial points that could arise in the interaction of streamers and maintenance. The company said that streamers should only use DotaTV broadcasts and original content, and fulfill their obligations to the operator. After that, there were no more controversial points, but who knows what awaits us in 2023.

Problematic release of Cyberpunk 2077

Gamers have been waiting for Cyberpunk 2077 for over eight years, but many were disappointed with the final product. Despite the fact that the Cyberpunk 2077 development team worked on the game in excess of the norm a month before the release, there were still many bugs and errors in it. Many also complained about an incomprehensible interface, outdated mission design, poor management and other problems. In addition, Cyberpunk 2077 did not work stably for everyone, and for some it did not start at all.

Most of the discontent came from console users, especially those who own legacy devices. Later, information appeared on the network that CD Project RED deliberately did not send versions for PS4 and Xbox One to journalists, as it knew about problems with the game on these consoles. Over time, CDPR has promised to release two major patches in January and February 2023 that will significantly improve the quality of the game on previous generation consoles. The studio also apologized for the inconvenience and agreed to refund the money to disgruntled buyers.

It’s better not to buy on PS4. pic.twitter.com/mphOcgHsJo

– Vadim Elistratov (@great_laziness) December 10, 2023

At the same time, despite the scandal, Cyberpunk 2077 sold 13 million copies in less than two weeks, making gamers worry – will the release of games in this state now become the norm for the industry?

What unpleasant situation from the gaming industry hooked you the most in 2023?