Dota 2’s Newbee banned from all Valve events after match-fixing scandal

Chinese esports organization Newbee, and its entire Dota 2 roster, have been permanently banned from all Valve competitions, following a match-fixing controversy from May 2020. 

Newbee is one of China’s better-known esports organizations, particularly when it comes to Dota 2. Established in 2014, the team has accumulated over $13,000,000 in total earnings – mostly in part thanks to Dota2’s TI. Back in May, Newbee was plunged into one of the biggest controversies in Chinese esports history, after their entire roster was implicated in a match-fixing scandal. The team, consisting of Xu ‘Moogy’ Han, Yin ‘AQ’ Rui, Wen ‘Wizard’ Lipeng, Yan ‘Waixi’ Chao, and Zeng ‘Faith’ Hongda, was found to have been match-fixing in a number of competitions, including the China Dota 2 Pro League Season 2 and DPL-CDA Professional League Season 1. 

After the scandal came to light back in May 2020, the team was promptly banned from all events organized by ImbaTV, Mars Media, and CDA. They were also immediately disqualified from the aforementioned leagues in which the fixed matches took place.

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Following the revelations and tournament bans, many fans were waiting for further bans, particularly from Valve sanctioned event, as well as Perfect World. Both came in early 2021, with the news being confirmed that the organization and all 5 players implicated have been permanently banned from Valve events. That includes The International, which Newbee won back in 2014. Dota2 confirmed the bans on their official Weibo account. The following screenshot is a translation.

Dota 2 insider ‘Wykrhm Reddy’ also confirmed the news on January 3, stating that the reason is match-fixing. https://twitter.com/wykrhm/status/1345636685506256898?s=20 The news did not come as a major surprise, but many fans were disappointed with the confirmation given the stardom of some players, particularly Faith and Moogy. Following on from the controversy, Newbee parted company with AQ, Wizard and Waixi in August of 2020. None of them have officially found a new roster. For the time being, Faith and Moogy remain on Newbee’s roster but, with indefinite bans pretty much across the board now, it looks like their time competing in Dota 2 is nigh on over.