A news outlet by the name of KIRO 7 has reported that Jess Cliffe, the co-creator of the hit PC game Counter-Strike, has been arrested. He was booked early Thursday, and the charge is for the sexual exploitation of a child.
Police did not release details in regards to the arrest, but they did note that Cliffe has not been charged with a crime, nor if the child was harmed. They did note that Cliffe did not have a criminal history.
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The booking took place around 1:17 AM, and Cliffe is expected to have a bail hearing tomorrow afternoon.
Cliffe has quite the history with Valve Corporation. He served there as a game computer designer and made history with Counter-Strike, which has been a popular favorite on the Steam service – as well as within esports – over the past several years.
In the wake of what’s happened, Kotaku has learned that Valve has suspended Cliffe in the wake of the arrest. “We are still learning details of what actually happened. Reports suggest he has been arrested for a felony offense. As such, we have suspended his employment until we know more.”
The response within the community has been strong, to say the least. Over on the Kotaku feed, a user by the name of Funketrain has noted, “It’s good to see stories like this come out. It shows no one is invincible. It’s unfortunate that stories like this of such prominent people exist but it keeps the industry responsible and shows that money and power can’t keep you in the shadows forever. This with the story earlier in the week about Nolan Bushnell shows that the video game industry is no exception.”
Others are criticizing Valve for having employed Cliffe, even though, again, he shows no criminal history. “Holy shit,” a few users have noted, while one other user said, “I really don’t know how to process this right now…” (The same could probably be said for a good portion of the Valve and Counter-Strike community.)
We know folks probably have a lot of questions about this right now. We’ll keep you informed of any new details that come to light.
