Chinese Dota 2 Player Sheds Light on China DPC Match Fixing

A Chinese Dota 2 professional has made a startling claim, stating that as many as 70% of players in the lower division of the China DPC may be participating in match-fixing

Lin “Doodle” Zikai, a Chinese Dota 2 professional, has recently raised a grave concern regarding the integrity of the DPC CN 2023 Tour 3: Division II (中国联赛A级). In a startling revelation, he has expressed the belief that a disturbingly high proportion, surpassing 50%, of the players competing in this tournament may be entangled in match-fixing activities.

Doodle said there’s about 70% of CN DPC div2 players are involved in match fixing. He said top tier players never do those, but there’s still a lot of losers are doing it for money.

— CN Dota In A Nutshell (@Tr1H4rd3rDota2) September 19, 2023

The disclosure regarding the alleged involvement of more than half of the players in match-fixing during the DPC CN 2023 Tour 3: Division II (中国联赛A级) has been made public via the CN Dota In A Nutshell Twitter page. This platform, renowned for its extensive coverage of the Chinese Dota 2 scene, has cast a spotlight on a deeply troubling issue that has been plaguing the professional Dota 2 scene in the country.

Doodle Reveals Match-Fixing Approach in China DPC Division II

In a bold statement, Doodle revealed that several CN Division 2 DPC players implicated in match-fixing have yet to face bans. He stressed that his own clean record allows him to speak out about this without hesitation.

Doodle said there’s still a lot of CN div2 DPC players didn’t get banned even tho they have been involved in match fixing, but since he didn’t do any of those things so he’s not afraid of exposing it. He said during this year’s first tour of CN DPC div2,

— CN Dota In A Nutshell (@Tr1H4rd3rDota2) September 20, 2023

In the first tour of China's DPC Division II this year, the ex-Invictus Gaming carry player revealed that he had been approached by numerous individuals who proposed payments ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 RMB in exchange for participating in match-fixing. 

He unequivocally rejected these offers, stating that he believed it was an unethical avenue to earn money. Although he initially planned to report these individuals to Perfect World, Valve’s official partner in China, the absence of concrete evidence forced him to abandon that course of action.

He mentioned that Perfect World has a history of grappling with such matters, stressing that the absence of compelling evidence hinders the organization’s ability to impose bans on the implicated individuals.

There has been no official response from Valve regarding these accusations. This situation has the potential to ignite a substantial scandal, as it places a cloud of suspicion over the Dota Pro Circuit, which the Dota 2 creators have chosen to discontinue in the upcoming season.

SEA and China DPC Grapple with Ongoing Match Fixing Concerns

Perfect world announced becuz of not following the fair play principle, those following players all got banned by them and valve together, all of them can’t attend dpc official games and perfect world’s tournaments anymore. pic.twitter.com/AHlHrMJNpB

— CN Dota In A Nutshell (@Tr1H4rd3rDota2) March 9, 2023

Earlier this year, Valve imposed bans on more than 40 pro players from China and South East Asia because of cheating and match-fixing during the Winter Tour. Additionally, five teams have been stripped of their participation in the upcoming Dota Pro Circuit. These bans created a whirlwind of turmoil within the Chinese Dota scene, catching the rest of the Dota 2 world off guard.

The official Dota 2 Weibo account shared the official ban announcement on March 9, 2023. The post mentioned a total of 47 bans, including every single member of the Dota 2 team Knights, who had previously qualified for the Lima Major. This sweeping decision could be characterized as the largest ban wave ever witnessed in the competitive Dota 2 arena.

Following a thorough investigation conducted by Valve, the team was implicated in match-fixing activities and, as a consequence, has been handed a ban from competitive play that extends until at least 2024.

During the Lima Major, Knights were implicated in match-fixing, and one of the fixed matches involved them facing Entity, a formidable European team that ultimately secured fifth place in the tournament.

Entity easily clinched the series with consecutive wins in under an hour, making it look effortless. The series itself raised suspicions of match-fixing, with former OG analyst Vladislav “Kozak” Lazurenko being the first to bring up these allegations. Subsequently, an investigation was conducted, revealing compelling evidence that substantiated the match-fixing allegations.