Reports indicate almost 15% of CS2 community was hit with VAC bans

According to numbers from the CS2 Stats website cited by renowned CS2 source Ozzny on X (@Ozzny_CS2), Valve has managed to ban almost 15% of CS2 accounts suspected of cheating in the game. After many complaints from fans, the organization has taken major steps to improve its VAC Live anti-cheat system. Initially, it seemed as if cheaters were going completely unpunished, but several VAC bans over recent months have reduced the player count by millions.

Ozzny's post on X states that about 4.5 million Counter-Strike 2 accounts have been removed from the game for cheating. This accounts for roughly 14.3% of the player accounts in the game. It is important to note that the CS2 Stats website only tracks CS2 accounts that have been registered on it, so it may not necessarily be representative of the entire playerbase of the game.

VAC bans have increasingly become more fearsome for cheaters, especially in recent months. This has been the case ever since the VAC Live system suddenly began removing many players who were showcasing irregular behavior in the game. There have also been instances of the system stopping matches in progress when someone with suspicious behavior was found in the game.

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VAC bans purge CS2 of millions of cheaters in the game

According to the CS2 Stats website, about 31.5 million accounts have been tracked playing the game up until June 2024. However, about 4.5 million VAC bans have also been recorded by the system so far. The numbers previously reached a high of about 26,000 banned CS2 accounts in May 2024.

VAC bans are important because bots have become a major issue on several CS2 servers. Bot farms employ thousands of bot accounts to dig for regular drops in the game which are unlocked upon completing some achievements in the game. These bots obtain cases and keys, which are then turned in for a profit after trading. As a result, bans have become necessary to prevent bots from disrupting the CS2 experience.

An Overwatch system is also working quietly behind all the code in CS2. This system has certain trusted CS2 players reviewing game footage and identifying suspicious behavior, which they can then phase out of the game by issuing Overwatch bans. It was added to the game in April 2024 and is likely one of the reasons behind the high ban percentage.

For now, it seems that VAC and Overwatch are both working. The number of actual bans in the game is likely higher than 4.5 million players, but it is clear that VAC bans are becoming more common. Hopefully, more bans will be issued to those attempting to cheat in CS2 so that the competitive integrity of the game isn't compromised.