Newbee has been banned from taking part in any professional Dota 2 tournaments in China. The ban was handed down from allegations of match fixing. Newbee is considered as one of the best teams in the world after it held the Aegis during The International 2014. The team had a chance to be a two-time champion in TI7, but couldn’t get past Team Liquid.
Match fixing is nothing new in esports. For the Dota 2 community, the first big incident related to this issue involved Alexey “Solo” Berezin. According to reports, Solo bet $100 against his own team and was said to have won $322. This is why, since then, match fixing allegations in Dota 2 are nicknamed “322.”
So what happened with Newbee? The specific matches weren’t revealed, but according to different reports like the one by Forbes, it’s said to have occurred during the China Dota 2 Professional League Season 2 and the DPL-CDA Professional League Season 1.
According to a statement from ImbaTV, the organization has been dedicated to cracking “down on all actions that violate the spirit of e-sports, and resolutely maintains a fair and just competitive environment.” ImbaTV has banned Newbee from taking part in any event that it organizes.
The ban affects players Yin “Aq” Rui, Wen “Wizard” Lipeng, Yan “Waixi” Chao, and Zeng “Faith” Hongda. Banned as well was Xu “Moogy” Han. In addition, Newbee team leader Feng Yiqing was also included in the ban. Feng is also being banned from being hired for any esports-related work, especially as part of the Chinese Dota 2 professional Association.
While this ban is indeed limited to China, there’s a big chance that the effect is going to be carried across the different regions. Valve in particular has yet to issue a statement on the matter.
Newbee, however, has issued a statement of their own denying the accusations. The organization said that it understands and respects the decision of the CDA Alliance but argues that since it was established, the team “has never participated in any fake matches and gambling activities with the club or branch as the main body.” Newbee plans to appeal the ban.
Regarding the issue at hand, Newbee said that as early as February 2020 it was already looking into these allegations, but no evidence was found. The problem was the pandemic resulted in staff having poor offline communication and management. In addition, the club was negligent in management.
Hopefully Newbee is able to hurdle this obstacle and go back to what they do best, playing Dota 2.
