It’s time for soundproof booths to return to esports

Integrity in esports remains a hot topic of conversation among fans and industry stakeholders looking to ensure the world’s biggest events are contested on a level playing field. The world’s best teams frequently compete on stages surrounded by supporters cheering on their favorite players.

Despite the use of noise-canceling headsets and in-ear monitors to prevent players from hearing crowd noise, there have been several instances of fans alerting them to specific in-game actions that often determine the outcome of a round.

The solution? The return of the soundproof booths.

The topic of the crowd giving away specific plays during high-stakes matches reared its head at the 2026 Call of Duty League (CDL) Championship, where cheers alerted OpTic Texas to a potential FaZe Vegas bomb defuse in the Grand Final.

In a bid to emerge victorious, Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro said “the crowd will let us know” when the opposition was making a play.

Reliance on the OpTic-favoring crowd backfired, as Jordan “Abuzah” François used the crowd to his advantage, resulting in FaZe Vegas winning its first Champs trophy in five years.

With both teams using the crowd to varying degrees of success, audience behavior has prompted calls for the return of soundproof booths. Throughout the 2014 and 2015 Call of Duty esports seasons, player booths were a mainstay at high-profile tournaments and had the desired effect of preventing outside interference from affecting gameplay. 

It’s not just Call of Duty that has to deal with the crowd potentially ruining moments of matches that can swing in favor of one team or the other. For several years, Counter-Strike has tried to deal with fan actions, such as giving away opponents obscured by a smoke grenade or players hoping to use an off-angle to gain the upper hand.

2025’s FISSURE Playground 2 clash between FURIA and Team Falcons demonstrated the power of the crowd when rifler Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski found himself blocked off by a smoke. Thanks to Counter-Strike 2’s X-ray spectator feature, the crowd cheered when his crosshair moved over the position of an opponent. Even when the tournament organizer switched X-ray off, Kyxsan’s mouse movement still triggered a reaction to confirm the location of the incoming attackers.

Tournament organizers spend large sums to ensure that all tournament PCs are identical, the infrastructure is stable, and the rulebook is meticulously followed. Despite this, they do very little to control the behavior of 15,000 fans who are emotionally invested in the players competing on stage.   

Crowd behavior of this nature has no place in esports. Even when features designed to enhance the viewing experience are disabled to protect integrity, a few bad actors are enough to throw tournament integrity out the window.

Esports often focuses on introducing innovations aimed at enhancing the viewer experience rather than addressing issues that have plagued events over the last decade. The soundproof booths of yesteryear are no longer used in high-profile tournaments, but it’s now time to reuse a tried-and-tested method for blocking out the noise and preventing the crowd from influencing the outcome of rounds and matches.

The first title to fully embrace the concept was Dota 2. The MOBA has used booths for its tentpole tournament since the very first edition in 2011. Early versions resulted in a lack of ventilation for tournament PCs, leading to the implementation of air conditioning and multiple layers of glass. By TI5, booths ended up costing over $200,000, demonstrating Valve’s commitment to preventing outside interference.

Bringing back the booths doesn’t mean the return of ugly acrylic boxes plonked on the center of the stage. Over the past 10 years, technology has evolved significantly and offers organizers a chance to introduce booths with engineered acoustics and anti-reflective glass, providing players with conditions where outside distractions cannot impact gameplay.

For the CDL, the crowd interference during the Champs Grand Final couldn’t have come at a better time. With the league now in its off-season in preparation for the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, there’s ample time to prepare methods that stop the audience from giving away sneaky defuses or the location of opponents.

Whether it’s more vigilant crowd management or the return of the booths, integrity must be paramount as players compete for life-changing prize money.

Regarding Counter-Strike’s crowd problem, the tournament organizers have the final say on what’s required to prevent audience members from influencing player actions. The second half of 2026 is already in full swing, and with teams looking to secure qualification for the Singapore Major, integrity must be a top priority to avoid potential controversy with huge ramifications.