The fight against cheaters in CS2 has long been a source of controversy between players and developers. The community regularly accuses Valve of inaction, despite constant complaints and obvious cases of cheating. Players in Bangladesh compare the game to apps like https://bv.casino/app/, saying that the company is more concerned with profits from in-game cases. But if you look deeper, it becomes clear that it’s not about the lack of a fight, but the nature of this war itself. This is not a battle with a clear beginning and end, but an endless race between anti-cheat developers and cheat creators. In this article, we take a look at the difficulties in why Valve can’t defeat cheaters in CS2. See what you think!
Cheating and VAC: Why It’s Not a One-Sided Game
Valve has been using VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) for many years, but with the arrival of CS2 and the transition to Source 2, the situation has changed. Cheaters are not standing still: they instantly adapt to new defences, and some even test cheats on closed systems and in virtual machines. VAC does not work as an instant ban hammer, but as a system of delayed penalties: suspicious actions are recorded, analysed, and only then lead to bans. This reduces the likelihood of false positives, but gives cheaters time to have fun before they are punished.
VACNet, a machine learning system that analyses player behaviour, such as mouse movements, shooting patterns, and reaction speeds, works in parallel. It does not look for specific cheats, but studies deviations from normal behaviour to identify suspicious players. However, analysis and response do not occur in real time.
Free Game Model: A Paradise for Cheaters with Fakes
CS2 became free, and this gave freedom not only to newbies but also to cheaters. Losing your account is no longer scary, because you can just create a new one. Despite the existence of Prime mode (which requires a verified phone number and a certain amount of playing time), this has not become a serious obstacle. There are dozens of offers for Prime accounts on the black market, and changing your IP and device is a matter of minutes. Valve could introduce stricter verification, such as biometric linking or hardware ID bans, as some Asian projects and even casinos like Betvisa app do.
But such measures raise serious privacy issues and may scare away honest players. For now, the company is limiting itself to soft restrictions and passive filtering. Although in the same Betvisa apk, players are afraid of losing their accounts, as this would deprive them of their accumulated bonuses and freeze their personal accounts.
Why VAC Does Not Work at the Kernel Level
Today, most serious anti-cheat systems in major titles (such as Riot Vanguard in Valorant or FACEIT AC) operate at the kernel level. This gives them access to all processes and allows them to detect cheats even if they are disguised as system services. However, this approach is a cause for concern among users.
Interference with the kernel is perceived as a potential security threat, especially when it comes to third-party software that runs alongside the system and gains access to the OS memory.
Valve has chosen a different path — they don’t want to force all players to sacrifice security in order to combat a minority. Their strategy is not total control, but moderate oversight and delicate intervention. But this means that they have to fight cheats with soft methods, which reduces their effectiveness.
Trust Factor: Isolate Instead of Ban
One of the underrated systems in CS2 is Trust Factor. It’s a mechanism that evaluates a player’s overall behaviour: complaints, frequency of games, behaviour in matches, and account history. With a low trust level, a player starts to get matched more often with other ‘suspicious’ players.
This isn’t a ban, but a kind of quarantine.
The idea is simple: give honest players the opportunity to play in a ‘cleaner’ pool and gather potential violators together. This approach is not always popular with newbies because, without a history, they automatically end up with a low trust rating. But in the long run, the system reduces the pressure of cheaters on honest players without the need to ban everyone indiscriminately.
VAC Waves: Strikes Against Large Networks
Valve rarely responds to individual cases of cheating — this is the job of the community, which can file complaints or record demos. Instead, the company conducts regular ‘waves’ of VAC bans — mass account suspensions linked to specific cheats or suspicious activity.
For example, in March 2024, a VAC wave was recorded on more than 26,000 accounts in a single day. These are not random bans, but the result of lengthy work analysing behaviour, logs, and patterns of violations. This approach is less visible in the moment, but strategically effective — it destroys the infrastructure of cheaters: subscriptions, bots, distribution channels.
What Can Be Improved Right Now
Despite all the efforts, CS2 has the potential to become cleaner if Valve decides to take more aggressive measures. Options:
- Implementation of voluntary kernel-level anti-cheat for players with Prime status.
- Strengthening the Trust Factor by integrating game and external data (e.g., Steam activity);
- Regular public reporting on VAC waves so that users know the fight is ongoing.
- Hardware account binding (with the possibility of appeal) for serious violations.
For now, it all boils down to Valve betting on soft power: minimal intervention, analysis, and statistics. It’s an honest choice, but it takes time, and players want results here and now.
Final Conclusions
Valve is fighting cheaters, but it’s doing so in its own way: without putting pressure on players, without strict surveillance, and without sacrificing privacy. This approach requires patience and systematic work that is invisible in each match but affects the ecosystem as a whole.
Players want to see immediate results. Valve is building an infrastructure that is designed to deter, not eliminate — that’s the difference in approach. And if there are still a lot of cheaters, it doesn’t mean the fight isn’t happening. It’s just that the fight isn’t on the battlefield, but in the background, where every VAC update is a step forward, even if it’s not a big one.
