VAC2 was announced in February 2005 and began beta testing the following month. The duration of the ban was increased over time players were banned for 1 year and 5 years, until VAC2 was released in 2005, when any new bans became permanent. During this initial release, the system only banned players for 24 hours. VAC's initial release was with Counter-Strike in 2002. Valve started working on a 'long-term solution' for cheating in 2001. Valve had also rejected business offers of integrating the technology directly into their games. In 2001, Even Balance Inc., the developers of the anti-cheat software PunkBuster designed for Counter-Strike and Half-Life mods, stopped supporting the games as they had no support from Valve.
