Since 2018, anyone can enjoy Counter-Strike: Global Offensive without dropping a single euro, but Valve has just reverted to this system, and will now close many features to non-paying players. The problem is simple: the explosion in the number of cheaters, who can now create unlimited Steam accounts, in order to play CS: GO with a whole battery of cheats activated. In the event of a VAC ban, all you have to do is open a new account, without costing a cent. The idea in 2018 was to attract more players to competitive FPS, with “paying” players only having access to “Prime” status which is supposed to guarantee matchmaking with trusted players. Except that in reality, players who have paid nothing could also access this status without investing a single euro in the game.
From now on, all this will be impossible as explained a post made on the official game forum. Now, free-to-play players will be able to enjoy the game on community servers, but competitive matchmaking will not be possible unless they pass Prime. Of course, it will also be impossible to get this status for free, which means that cheaters who are fond of multiplying accounts will be at their cost. That said, while this new policy should discourage large-scale cheating, it won’t solve the problem. We remember that before 2018, CS: GO saw its sales explode with each period of sales, cheaters creating real stocks of accounts in order to be able to continue their misdeeds.
