steel's Valve ban set to elapse in January 2025

The Canadian revealed he will be allowed to participate in Valve-sponsored events following the 10-year anniversary of the iBUYPOWER bans.

Joshua "⁠steel⁠" Nissan's "permanent" ban from Valve-sponsored events is set to elapse on January 26, 2025, the Canadian has revealed in a bombshell Tweet.

When contacted by HLTV in regards to whether other members tied to the infamous iBUYPOWER matchfixing scandal had also been unbanned, steel said he hadn't asked about their situations.

"I was told my criteria and why they [Valve] set a specific date for me, so I'd assume they would have similar time frames and situations," steel told HLTV.

The 33-year-old returned to Counter-Strike in July after a three-year stint playing professional VALORANT for the likes of 100 Thieves, T1, and Disguised, and has since been plying his trade for Bad News Bears in ESL Challenger League North America.

The move to Riot's shooter was, at least in part, motivated by steel's "permanent" ban from Valve-sponsored events, which rendered him ineligible to compete in the Major cycle and therefore made it unlikely he would be signed to play for an organization on a long-term basis.

steel was among seven names implicated in the infamous iBUYPOWER matchfixing scandal in 2015. An investigation by Richard Lewis revealed the team had intentionally lost a game against NetcodeGuides.com in August 2014, but action wasn't taken by Valve until a follow-up article from Lewis on January 16, 2015 added further, damning evidence that the players and other individuals around them had fixed the result for profit.

The game developer issued a public statement ten days later, entitled "Integrity and Fair Play," in which they issued indefinite bans to four of the iBUYPOWER members and three people who helped orchestrate the fix. Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham famously avoided a ban as he did not accept the skin profits from the throw.

The following names were indefinitely banned by Valve:

Sam "⁠DaZeD⁠" Marine
⁠Braxton "⁠swag⁠" Pierce
Keven "⁠AZK⁠" Lariviere
Joshua "⁠steel⁠" Nissan
Derek "⁠dboorN⁠" Boorn
Casey Foster
Duc "cud" Pham

In a follow-up statement nearly a full year later, those bans were clarified by Valve to be permanent, ending speculation that the players may get a second chance.

A form of a second opportunity did arise in July 2017 when ESL and DreamHack lifted bans for their own tournaments for players indefinitely banned before February 15, 2015, offering the iBUYPOWER members the ability to compete in some top-tier events outside of Majors and tournaments organized by other operators.

steel was the only one of the banned players to seize the opportunity and successfully revive his Counter-Strike career as he broke into the top 20 with two different lineups over the following three years.

He qualified for three Big Events as the captain of Ghost — ESL One Belo Horizonte 2018, DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018, and ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals — and led them to a handful of victories over notable European opposition. The team also won WESG 2018 Canada Regional Finals and ZOTAC Cup Masters Americas Finals, all results which helped bring new North American talent into the limelight.

He later did the same with Chaos in early 2020, but stepped back from competition upon the release of VALORANT, which offered him the ability to compete at the highest level — an opportunity unavailable to him in Counter-Strike as no top organization wanted to build a team around an in-game leader ineligible to compete at Majors.

That Major ban, confirmed by Valve to be permanent in 2016, is now set to elapse upon the ten-year anniversary of the original iBUYPOWER ban on January 26, 2025. Over a year into Counter-Strike 2's competitive cycle, steel will be able to compete in Valve events again, including standing behind a team as coach.

"On the 10 year mark in January 2025, I will be allowed to participate at Valve partnered events," steel said on Twitter. "Against all odds, I've never given up. I'm ready to be defined by something new and more positive,"