Valve unbans Steam MW2 players

By Oli Welsh Published 27 July, 2010

Wrongly banned customers given free L4D2.

Valve has restored access to Modern Warfare 2 for "over 12,000" Steam accounts, after the PC players were mistakenly banned from playing the game by the developer's anti-cheating software.

IGN reports that Valve boss Gabe Newell sent an email to all the affected users to apologise and explain, and that Valve given them all copies of Left 4 Dead 2 for free, with extras to pass on to a friend.

The problem, which occurred over the past two weeks, saw Steam's anti-cheating software banning legitimate players at random.

"The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version," said Newell, according to IGN. "This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game."

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Snidesworth #1 2 years ago

    So, Valve has admitted that VAC is fallible? This should get interesting.

  • SBfistfun #2 2 years ago

    Yeah, so much for "There are no false positives"...

  • altitude2k #3 2 years ago

    I've been banned a couple of times from Steam for allegedly having illegitimate copies of the games. I had to prove with photographs of the game cases/manuals that I did indeed own the games.

    Nothing to do with VAC, I know, but I'm concerned about just how strict the platform has become.

  • Spekingur #4 2 years ago

    So has only to do with those that have the disc version of the game?

  • ChthonicEcho #5 2 years ago

    I'm more worried about MW2 players infiltrating L4D2.

  • MattyD #6 2 years ago

    At least they fessed up and compensated those affected, unlike certain other, DRM-riddled publishers...

  • Ryboy #7 2 years ago

    That's what you get for playing MW2 in the fucking first place. So Valve says sorry by giving you a GOOD game instead.

  • sneetch #8 2 years ago

    @Spekingur
    So has only to do with those that have the disc version of the game?

    No, they mean a difference between the copy on the hard disk and the copy in memory.

  • MiniAmin #9 2 years ago

    Could be worse, I mean apparently Ubisoft ban if you lose your internet connection!

  • neems #10 2 years ago

    Sadly, there appears to be no way to neg Ryboy more than 1 point.

  • Shikasama #11 2 years ago

    You'd have to be pretty mental to run a cracked game through steam wouldn't you?

  • Azazel #12 2 years ago

    DAMN YOU VALVE YOU BAST... Oh.

  • YoungPayters #13 2 years ago

    i bet there are some people who didnt play MW2 for a few days and then wen they log in they are given a free game, i would call that a good day! :D

  • gorf #14 2 years ago

    Wow a proactive devco. Usually companies would try to hide it or make excuses exemptinh themsevles from responsibility. Then get found out and then do an expensive fix/retraction. Vavle admit staright away saying " my bad" and heres a free copy of L4D. Good to see.

  • darleysam #15 2 years ago

    Valve are classy guys. Admitting the mistake and personally apologising to those affected is already a step above any other company, but to gift them a free copy of L4D2, as well as a free pass for a friend? Raising that bar.

  • Pastici #16 2 years ago

    Or is it pushing the envelope?

  • lucifonz #17 2 years ago

    I hope I get banned from a game for a few days and get free copies of another :) Hats off to Valve for sorting it in a solid manner

  • Acrid #18 2 years ago

    It's a shame they didn't ban the morons on Xbox Live

  • Nephirion #19 2 years ago

    Anyone else read this as " Cheaters get unbanned and L4D2 free " ....
    Edited by 1 at 27/07/10 @ 17:24

  • Codger81 #20 2 years ago

    Admitting their mistake and giving away 2 free copies of a pretty good game; that's how you manage PR disasters, kudos to Valve.

    That said, MW2 players taking over L4D? God help us all.

  • Zaiz #21 2 years ago

    @Darleysam

    They gave out a free copy, but if you already had one it could be given to a friend. VALVe is smart, not crazy.

    More importantly, why wasn't I playing MW2 recently? I could have used a copy of L4D2

  • dsmx #22 2 years ago

    And yet the people who actually cheat in it still get to play

  • Corben_Dallas #23 2 years ago

    Why cant they ban the fucktards who use hax in MW2 on XBOX360. Really pissed off those Idiots in Actiivision let ppl play with hacked Profiles and god knows what else into Multiplyer On XBlive.

    Could they have a 'Punkbuster system' running on XBlive with Istabans for the Fucktards who use cheats online.
    Edited by 1 at 27/07/10 @ 17:50

  • davisorle #24 2 years ago

    I alwyas go earlier at work and I join some clients by playing MW2 with them with the temp clan I created for them ( well the good players anyways ). I just wish the fucking VAC would work properly in MW2 cause its sick of how many retards cheat in there. I got http://www.vacbanned.com recently but I dont even know if its going to work by reporting in there. Anyhow, good thing for valve to remove the false bans and also pay for inconvinience.

  • cyber_nicco #25 2 years ago

    Can anyone tell me how to go about reporting a website that sells MW2 cheating software? The idiot on the site calls himself "Xman" (mine), but his actual Xbox Live! gamertag is something like "Xman3838". Ever since he started doing this on the website, I have been inundated by cheaters looking for help. It is so frustrating! I never realized there was such a market for cheaters.

    I'd love to see him and his stupid website burned to the ground...

  • cyber_nicco #26 2 years ago

    ...sorry for being off-topic...