Valve bans 12 professional Dota 2 players from China
21 May 2025
Recently, and for the first time since 2023, Valve has officially confirmed sanctioned professional Dota 2 players with bans, ranging from 2 years to permanent exclusion. This happened after an internal investigation by Chinese tournament operator Perfect World showed that no less than twelve players were guilty of “integrity violations”. Or in other words, of match fixing. Out of the twelve banned players, ten are from China itself, while two are from Malaysia. While the large majority of these players have not participated in any notable Dota 2 event for at least a year, it is still a tough pill to swallow for the Dota 2 community and the international esports world as a whole.
12 bans for match fixing in China
Even though the majority of players who were recently banned by Valve and Perfect World had not been active in major Dota 2 events for a relatively long time, the shocking part for the community is that they were still all considered professionals. The fact that most of them were part of relatively unknown teams does not change that. In fact, only Liu “mmmm” Junhui (who was also known as “Manic”) was the only player on the recent ban list who recently competed in an important event. On May 16, as a member of China-based Team Bright, he competed in the Asian Champions League.
Out of the 12 players that were recently banned by Valve and Perfect World, seven received 2-year bans, while the remaining five were banned for life. Below is a list of names and bans:
- Zhu “V” Lianfa (China): 2 years
- Feng “Killa” Bonian (China) 2 years
- Li “RanFuDao” Xinyuan (China): 2 years
- Liu “Manic” Junhui (China): 2 years
- Wang “marblue” Heng (China): 2 years
- Yu “Tz.” Chengwei (China): 2 years
- Wan “59” Tao (China): 2 years
- Lu “L’enfer, c’est les autres” Yubin (China): lifetime ban
- Chen “Small.Kk” Zhichao (China): lifetime ban
- Liew “Eren” Jun Ji (Malaysia): lifetime ban
- Hu “Molasses” Jiaxing (China): lifetime ban
- Li “xiaoyu” Qianyu (Malaysia): lifetime ban
Xiaoyu repeats offenses
While exact details of the ways in which the banned players participated in match fixing were not revealed, we do know that one of the players on the list is actually a repeat offender. Malaysian player Li “xiaoyu” Qianyu was actually part of Valve’s last series of bans, back in 2023. At the time, no less than 46 players received bans of varying durations and “xiaoyu” was one of them. At the time, he got banned from participating in official Dota 2 events for a period of two years.
The offenses committed by the Malaysian and the other players represent a blow to the Dota 2 community, especially in China itself, where it has been on a decline in recent years. Support, and with it investment, has dropped significantly and another widespread match fixing scandal will most likely result in even less support in coming years. The question is what it will mean for China’s overall Dota 2 scene on both the short and the long term.