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Counter-Strike's Jess Cliffe arrested for sexual exploitation of a child

Co-creator of classic first-person shooter suspended by Valve until more is known of charges

Counter-Strike co-creator and Valve employee Jess Cliffe was arrested yesterday for sexual exploitation of a child, according to Kotaku. Cliffe was denied bail, and has been suspended by Valve.

"We are still learning details of what actually happened," a Valve representative told the site. "Reports suggest he has been arrested for a felony offense. As such we have suspended his employment until we know more."

Cliffe co-created the original Counter-Strike with Minh Le in 1999 while he was a student at Virginia Tech. After the pair sold the rights to the game to Valve, Cliffe joined the company and worked as a level designer on a succession of sequels, including Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Left4Dead 2, and Portal 2.

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Brendan Sinclair avatar
Brendan Sinclair: Brendan joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2012. Based in Toronto, Ontario, he was previously senior news editor at GameSpot.
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