Chinese fans happy after Dota 2 esports player is banned from a major tournament for a racist slur

Valve bans Kuka from Chongqing Major after he typed slur during a game

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Kuku is a 21-year-old Dota2 pro on TNC Predator. (Picture: TNC Predator)

Josh Ye

Published: 8:29pm, 4 Dec 2018Updated: 8:47am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

In an unprecedented move, Dota 2’s owner Valve says it will ban Dota 2 player Kuku from attending a major tournament in China after he typed out “ching chong” in chat during a game.

While Valve’s intervention might have come a little later than many would have wanted, many Chinese fans online seem to be happy with Valve’s latest punishment for the Filipino player.

“Cool. I can now top up my Steam account. Although how Valve has handled it might have come a little late, it’s still fair,” one of the most upvoted comments in a Chinese forum said. (Steam, the world’s most popular PC game retail platform, is owned by Valve.)

Wait, what does Steam have to do with it? Well, Steam, the world’s top PC gaming platform, is owned by Valve. And, infuriated by Valve’s lack of punishment (at first) for Kuku, they boycotted Steam.

Kuku is a 21-year-old Dota 2 pro with TNC Predator. (Picture: TNC Predator)

Kuku wasn’t the only Filipino Dota 2 player to use a racial slur. Shortly after the incident with Kuku, Skemberlu said something similar.

Valve has been known to be hands-off with esports tournaments, but this time, anger amongst Chinese fans almost reached a boiling point.