Former OpTic India CS:GO Player Forsaken Addresses Cheating Scandal
By Jason Fanelli ·
Forsaken, the former OpTic India CS:GO star caught using illegal cheating programs during official events, has broken his silence on the matter.
After being caught using an unauthorized program during a LAN event, Indian pro gamer Nikhil “Forsaken” Kumawat has finally spoken out about his transgressions in an interview with AFK Gaming.
Forsaken was found to be cheating during the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive EXTREMESLAND 2018 tournament, getting the entire OpTic India team disqualified. OpTic soon dropped Forsaken from its roster, after it was confirmed that he cheated in a similar manner during an ESL event earlier in the year:
Forsaken begins his interview with an apology to his teammates, saying he is “extremely sorry to my teammates, OpTic management and the people who always put their trust in me over the facts. I feel guilty of stealing away the opportunities from my teammates. each one was extremely talented and i have jeopardized their chances of being where they deserve.” When asked if he was under any outside pressure to cheat he quickly denied it, taking full blame for what happened.
“There was no pressure from anywhere, it was all me who wanted to win every game, wanted to be perfect in every aspect of the game,” Forsaken said. “I was confident in my decisions, i was confident in understanding of the game etc but was never confident in my aim so to compensate that lack of confidence in aim i had to choose the wrong path.”
Forsaken also mentions not knowing of any other players using similar cheats and talks about his future in esports, saying “all i can do,is to try doing something in life so that i can be able to help my family. I have never th[ought] of doing anything other than [Counter-Strike]. I will try to improve for my mistake and be a better person.”
It’s good that he acknowledges his folly and wants to be a better person, but the esports community still has a lot of questions for Forsaken. How long has he been doing this? He says in the interview OpTic didn’t know about his cheating, did anyone else? How many OpTic India tournaments are now potentially compromised? This is a big mess he’s created, and only he can right the ship by being forthcoming and apologetic.
For more on this and other esports news, check out our coverage of the initial incident with Forsaken, as well as the announcement of Paris’ new Overwatch League team’s roster.