CS:GO Update Makes Ranked Mode a Paid Feature

The free-to-play nature of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive means anyone can download the game and hop right into some matches, but effective this week, some features are no longer accessible to those who play for free. One of the most notable features being restricted now to the Prime Status version of CS:GO is the game’s ranked mode. Players will still be able to play for free with opponents around their skill levels, but they won’t be placed in what CS:GO refers to as “Skill Groups” any longer.

Valve announced its intentions for the future of CS:GO in a post on the game’s blog where it outlined the new path forward to ranked modes and other features. Simply put, that path is a now a paid one that’s gated behind the Prime Status Upgrade option available through Steam. Ranked and other things like drops and a free path to the Prime Status were previously available, but Valve said those sorts of incentives attracted “bad actors” to harm the overall CS:GO experience.

“Along with all the gameplay that we made available for free, new players had access to drops, Ranks, Skill Groups, and a free path to Prime matchmaking,” Valve said. “Unfortunately, over time, those benefits have become an incentive for bad actors to hurt the experience of both new and existing players. So today we’re revising the offering for new players.”

Under the new system, those who play for free can still play on every game mode available, but they won’t earn experience, won’t achieve ranks, won’t earn drops, and won’t be placed into Skill Groups. If you want to access those features, you’ll need to pay the $14.99 to upgrade to the Prime Status version of CS:GO. As an incentive to get players to purchase the Prime Status upgrade sooner rather than later, Valve said buying the upgrade within the next two weeks starting from June 3rd will allow players to carry over all their experience progress and their Skill Group to the paid version of the game.

For those who don’t plan on picking up that upgrade and will continue to play for free, you can keep playing Competitive, Wingman, and Danger Zone matches via skill-based matchmaking without earning Skill Groups. Prime players will now have an option to play “Unranked” matches where Skill Groups are neither affected nor do they restrict lobbies in any way.