Jess Cliffe, the co-creator of Valve’s popular online shooter series Counter-Strike, was booked into a Seattle jail. On Thursday morning he was arrested over allegations of sexual exploitation of a child.
Seattle ABC affiliate KIRO-7 broke the story on Thursday after discovering Cliffe’s booking record into King County jail. Seattle police detective Patrick Michaud confirmed to Ars that Cliffe was arrested at the jail itself, which public records show happened at 1:17 am Pacific Time, and that no charges had yet been filed.
KIRO pointed out, according to its sources at the King County Prosecutor’s office, that a booking over such charges “typically indicates” the creation of child porn. The station attempted to interview Cliffe’s girlfriend at the couple’s home in West Seattle; she asked questions about the charges and otherwise offered no comment. Though Cliffe does not have a criminal history, public records confirm that Cliffe pled not guilty to assault charges in 2013 and that those charges were dismissed later that year by a King County court.
Valve took stern action
Valve has suspended Cliffe, the company told Kotaku. “We are still learning details of what actually happened,” Valve said. “Reports suggest he has been arrested for a felony offense. As such, we have suspended his employment until we know more.”
The 36-year-old game developer was hired by Valve shortly after he and series co-creator Minh Le began working on the game in 1999, originally a “mod” based on the Half-Life game and its Source rendering engine its fork of the original Quake engine. The game quickly became popular as an online, team-based shooter with a stress on military precision and team tactics.
“We are still learning details of what actually happened,” Valve said to Ars in a statement. “Reports suggest he has been arrested for a felony offense. As such, we have suspended his employment until we know more.”
