Recent CS2 ban wave punishes thousands, but not for cheating

While cheaters remain the main menace in CS2, Valve has reportedly wiped out case farmers in a new massive ban wave.

A move to a new engine couldn’t solve Counter-Strike 2’s cheating problem as players continue to complain about spin botters and aim lockers. To tackle that issue, Valve announced the return of Overwatch, but the delay has caused frustration among players. Meanwhile, the developer has kept busy looking into case farming accounts and banning them, according to community reports.

On May 30, Valve rolled out brief release notes focusing on UI and input. However, credible sources claim that the developer shot two birds with one stone by banning case idle accounts in CS2.

New CS2 ban wave stikes down thousands of case farmers

According to ConVars, CS2 game ban numbers on May 30 are already 24 times higher than average, confirming that the wave is indeed in motion.

The initial report came from Gabe Follower, the account behind credible CS2 and Deadlock leaks. According to him, the CS2 ban wave removed approximately 300,000 CS2 accounts for hoarding cases.

Case farmers stand out in a regular CS2 match for either staying idle or moving like a bot. Sometimes, player models are scripted to imitate a real player, but the true purpose behind these accounts is to gather case drops. Often as many as five idle accounts are in a single game to maximize cases dropped.

This can be frustrating for serious players looking to climb the ladder in CS2. Thankfully, Valve is closely monitoring all sorts of malicious actors. The newest ban wave against 300,000 CS2 case farmers may likely impact the game’s overall player count, which maintained an upward trajectory in May, peaking at 1,614,925, according to Steam Charts.

With a large number of players banned from Valve’s servers, players should expect peaceful, competitive games with fewer trolls. However, the case supply in the Steam Marketplace may dwindle. It’s worth noting that cases have become more valuable with the skin rent feature in CS2, even though it’s only available for the Kilowatt collection for now.

Valve is expected to release more cases for rent, which could lead to an increase in case farming reports. The recent CS2 ban wave is likely a proactive measure taken to address potential issues stemming from the feature that enables users to lease all skins in a case.