If there is one company that has become rather familiar with the almighty banhammer over recent years, it is Valve. With a massive digital distrubition business to run as well as a handful of games, many people try to sneak their way into places they should not be. That said, Valve used the hammer with force recently, banning nearly 100,000 Steam accounts over the course of just one week.

While the surge has seemingly calmed itself at this point, last week saw the largest wave of bans in Valve Anti-Cheat history. Just on Thursday, July 19th, 61,365 VAC bans occurred. In addition to this, 27,389 game bans happened on the same day. The Wednesday prior to the massive purge saw 28,610 VAC bans and 31,053 game bans, bringing the two day total to record heights.

It’s not unusual to see this number of bans in a given month, but they are usually a bit more spread out. As of right now, July’s totals stand at 120,623 VAC bans and 394,028 game bans, and there is still a week to go. To provide a little more perspective, each day leading up to the two-day slaying of Steam accounts by Valve didn’t even come close. Well, the game bans are typically around the same numbers, but VAC bans range from 500-2,500 each day, with a high of 5,202 happening on July 4th.

The cause of the influx in bans is unknown at this time, but it’s likely due to a new cheat being discovered by Valve. That said, whoever has been using the exploit and didn’t feel the warmth of the banhammer this time around will likely experience it in the future. Keep it tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers as this story develops, and for other gaming goodness going on right now, check out the following:

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What say you, gamers? Did you meet the banhammer during Valve’s banning extravaganza? Do you have nothing to worry about? Sound off in the comments section below, and be sure to follow DFTG on Twitter for live gaming and entertainment news 24/7!