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The Valorant esports scene in India ran into a bit of controversy when Abhay "Xhade" Urkude was handed a ban for using third-party applications in Valorant.
After the cheating scandal surrounding Nikhil "forsaken" Kumawat in 2018, the Indian esports scene, in general, took massive blow. With international organizations like Optic Gaming, Fnatic, and Team Liquid showing interest in the region, forsaken's cheating scandal had left the entire region without proper international recognition.
The same could be witnessed on Mithul "Binks69" Nayak's YouTube stream, where Xhade was invited to defend his actions. However, Xhade went on a completely different route, as he chose to confess in front of many notable community figures. The entire conversation went down in Binks69's discord server.
Valorant pro's cheating scandal leaves the Indian esports scene's future in jeopardy
After forsaken's cheating scandal in 2018, not only did "word.exe" become a global meme, but the entire Indian gaming community was subjected to insults and trolls online.
With Xhade's recent ban for using third-party applications in Valorant, community members such as Tanmay "Sc0utOP" Singh, Simar "PSY" Sethi, Binks69, and Manoj "Sentinel" Kashyap have expressed their concerns and frustrations regarding the repetation of a similar incident.
However, unlike in forsaken's scenario, Xhade did not confess to having used any malicious applications in a tournament match. Although that does not lower the atrocity of his action, there's still hope that Xhade's apology and confession will be considered by the community.
Situation of Indian esports community
Given that this is the first Valorant pro player to have been banned by Riot Games from the region for hacking, there's a minor chance that Xhade might be able to redeem himself with his actions. However, until that happens, the entire incident has left a very bitter impression of the Indian Valorant community on the global stage.
Additionally, Team Paratroops has been banned from both Skyesports as well as ESPL Valorant tournaments. Although Xhade has been handed a permanent ban from all platforms, the third-party bans will last for a period of six months for Team Paratroops.
Binks69 also revealed on his YouTube stream that Team Paratroops has been disbanded for the time being. All the remaining players from the roster are free to play any tournament under the banner of a different team. However, Binks69 has been handed with periodic bans by both ESPL and Skyesports for sharing his Valorant account with Xhade.
With the entire incident being very recent and yet to reach the global media, there's a very high chance that the entire Indian gaming community will be subjected to insults and jeers once it does.
Nevertheless, it is extremely important for the community to remember that, not only in esports, but in any competitive scenario, it has always been selective individuals who have been behind atrocious events such as this. These specific incidents have caused an entire team or sometimes an entire region to face the heat of the community.
As was mentioned by Jake Lucky in his tweet, incidents like these are extremely hard to accept for those that have worked tirelessly to make the region grow. Sentinel posted a video on his YouTube channel describing "what's at stake" for everyone from the region.
The owner of the most successful Valorant team from the region talks about how incidents like these have caused adverse repercussions for the entire Indian Valorant scene. Sentinel also mentions how tough and stressful it can be as an esport athlete in a region with an under-developed scene.
He further goes on to talk about how Anuj "Amaterasu" Sharma, the IGL of Team Mahi's Valorant roster, has been an esport athlete for more than 15 years but is yet to secure a future in the same. With the efforts of so many individuals and organisations alike on the line, incidents like this can not only have an adverse effect on the scene, but can cause players from the region to give up hope of a career in esports.
Forsaken's cheating scandal had caused Optic Gaming to disband their Indian CS: GO roster and entirely move out from the region. The incident also caused interested franchises like Fnatic and Team Liquid to reconsider their choices.
With Xhade repeating it now, it is up to the rest of the Indian community to help Valorant thrive and grow as an esport in the region.
