Some older pros from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) will be able to compete in Valve events again. This is in spite of long-standing Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) bans that these pros may have been subjected to before.

OLD VAC BANS WILL NO LONGER DISQUALIFY PLAYERS FROM VALVE-SPONSORED CSGO EVENTS

While Valve still seems to take VAC bans seriously, the company announced that they are lifting restrictions for some VAC-banned pros. “As we enter the 2021 RMR season,” the statement reads, “we've decided to revisit some of our event guidelines.”

Valve's new rules state that VAC bans that are at least 5-years-old will no longer stop pros from competing in Valve-sponsored CSGO events. “Moving forward, a VAC ban will only disqualify a player from an event if it was either received less than 5 years prior, or if it was received at any time after their first participation in a Valve-sponsored event.”

While their VAC bans will continue to be upheld. The only change is that these players will now be eligible to join CSGO events organized by Valve once again.

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The announcement talked about how VAC bans before disqualified any player from joining any Valve-sponsored event in the past. As years went by, some of these VAC bans can now be eight years old. Thus, Valve felt the need to update their long-standing policies with regards to tournament eligibility.

However, getting a VAC ban has always meant a career dead-end for CSGO pros. As soon as they received their bans, players had the choice to stay in CSGO and compete in third-party events, usually with lower prize pools, or to switch games. Many pros didn't last five long years since their ban to be able to fully enjoy this new ruling. Many of them have moved on to new games like OverwatchVALORANT, and Call of Duty. What this new ruling means for CSGO‘s competitive scene remains unknown for now.