Match-fixers taint 'Overwatch' tournament and get hit with criminal charges

Two people who orchestrated the throwing of a professional Overwatch match received more than a lifetime ban from the tournament in question -- they were booked without detention by police in South Korea and charged with interference with business.

The incident -- reported by Inven Sunday and translated by ESPN -- involved Overwatch team Luminous Solar's player manager Jin Seok-hoon and coach Baek Min-jeh coordinating with team UnLimited player Choi Yoon-soo to guarantee Luminous Solar a win during OGN's Overwatch Apex Challenger Season 2 qualifiers, according to an internal investigation by OGN.

Jin, Baek, and the Luminous organization received lifetime bans from OGN in February. Choi is banned from competing in the third season. Only Luminous's Jin and Baek were charged after the fact.

In exchange for the win (which Luminous Solar got), Jin and Baek offered UnLimited a sponsorship. On top of that, OGN's investigation revealed Jin and Baek faked a doctor's certificate to replace one of its players with a substitute.

Match-fixing such as this is not exclusive to Overwatch. A North American Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team was banned from competing in all Valve-related events after throwing a game back in 2015. Whether Overwatch developer Blizzard Entertainment will similarly level a ban against the individuals and organization is yet to be seen.

Other match-fixing scandals have popped up over the years in StarCraft, Dota 2, and League of Legends, each case resulting in player or organization bans and occasionally criminal charges.