Brave esports just lost a great team.
Disguised, the esports organization founded by Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang, has announced that it is leaving the brave Game Changers esports scene due to issues with cheaters in professional matches.
In a Tweet, the organization made a lengthy statement that revealed anti-cheat issues were the reason the organization decided not to renew its roster for the upcoming season.
“After a heartbreaking end to our GC Series 3 this year, where a player was able to bypass Riot’s anti-cheat system in our games, we don’t feel comfortable investing more in the scene as it exists today,” the statement read. “While we believe Riot will continue to try and improve their system, being a self-funded organization like DSG, it would be best for us to wait until such a system is safely implemented.”
The cheating issue the statement refers to a match in a qualifying tournament for the big Game Changers events at the end of the year. DSG ended up losing to Noot Noot in the top tier, giving them a tough match in the lower bracket against Evil Geniuses which they lost and were eliminated from the battle. However, later in the tournament a Noot Noot player was found to be cheating and was banned from the tournament. This, however, did not change the outcome of their match against DSG.
Cheating is nothing new in online shooters, but you rarely see it in such high-level games and it goes unnoticed for many matches. While it would be difficult to go back and start the tournament again, you can understand why DSG would be upset by the result, and their response will hopefully force Riot to make improvements in the future.
Being licensed by a major organization because of cheating issues is not a good look for the professional brave scene, however, this season of Game Changers was mostly good outside of the cheating issues. Riot wants to build on that success with the 2024 season which is expanding further and is set to be the biggest yet. However, if more cheating issues arise, it will definitely damage the scene further.
As for DSG, it will continue to play a team Apex Legends and comes out of the back of it TFT Vegas Open where many players participated and was one of the most prominent brands at the event. The organization continues to have a large and passionate fan base and will likely continue to grow in 2024 despite losing one of its popular teams.
