[ MATCHMAKING ]
– Premier matchmaking can now be selected together with other competitive maps.
– Added competitive matchmaking presets and ability to save/load favorite map selections.
– Added a link to CS:GO Fair Play Guidelines when playing on official game servers.

[ MISC ]
– Bullet penetration check will ignore the firing player model entirely.
– Fixed bot difficulty selector to correctly apply for offline with bots War Games matches.
– Stability improvements.

CS:GO went free to play over two years ago and is still going strong. We see new players entering CS:GO all the time, and it’s as important as ever that anyone in the world can pick up and play the game for free.

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. 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.

New players can still play every game mode, play on community servers, and play workshop maps. However, they will no longer receive XP, Ranks, drops, or Skill Groups; those features are now exclusively available to Prime Status players.

New players can still upgrade to Prime by purchasing the Prime Status Upgrade from the Steam store, however there is no longer a free path to Prime. And if you purchase the upgrade in the next two weeks, your current Skill Group and XP progress will carry over.

When new players play Competitive, Wingman, and Danger Zone, their matches will still use skill-based matchmaking, but players will not earn a Skill Group.

Prime players can also play Unranked matches, where their Skill Group will not be affected and where there are no lobby Skill Group restrictions.

Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a new arrival, GL and HF!

Today's release notes can be found below.

[ NON-PRIME ]

• Non-Prime status accounts will no longer earn XP, Ranks, Skill Groups, item drops, or Prime status through play time.
  
• Non-Prime accounts will not be able to participate in Ranked matches.
  
• Non-Prime accounts will not be able to activate Bonus Rank XP items and can no longer claim Service Medals.

[ UNRANKED MATCHES ]

• Introducing Unranked matches for Competitive, Wingman, and Danger Zone game modes.
  
• While still formed using skill-based matchmaking, Unranked matches do not affect Skill Group and have no Skill Group party restrictions.
  
• Non-Prime accounts are restricted to Unranked, whereas Prime accounts may choose between Ranked and Unranked.
  
• Ranked matches will always be with other Prime players, exclusively, whereas Unranked matches will be created from the mixed pool of Non-Prime players and Prime players that have chosen to play Unranked.

[ VSCRIPT ]

• Added "DebugDrawBoxAngles" to draw oriented bounding boxes. Usage: DebugDrawBoxAngles( ent.GetOrigin(), ent.GetBoundingMins(), ent.GetBoundingMaxs(), ent.GetAngles(), r, g, b, a, time);
  
• Added "GetBoundingMinsOriented" and "GetBoundingMaxsOriented" functions that return the axis-aligned bounding box of an entity taking its current orientation into account.

[ MISC ]

• Scrimmage has been removed from Competitive matchmaking, and has been replaced by Unranked matchmaking.
  
• Added Import button to Workshop Workbench that takes a .tga file and generates a .vtf file. If the .tga file name contains "_normal" the generated .vtf file will be compiled with the 'normal' flag.

[ MISC ]
– Added option ‘2’ to sv_damage_print_enable, which, when set, will only print damage output after round has ended.
– Coach positions are now saved in round backup files.
– In Deathmatch, fixed the ability to extend invulnerability by repeatedly issuing the “open_buymenu” command.
– In Retakes, armor value now remains fixed during card selection.

[ VSCRIPT ]
– Fixed bounding box issue for rotated entities.

[ MAPS ]
– Ancient
— Art-revision on bombsite B and surrounding area
— Higher contrast base textures at B for better player reads
— Fixed random missing micro-polygons in bomb B totem/sculpture
— Recolored plywood throughout the map for better contrast
— Straightened out broken-wall passage to bombsite B
— Tweaked spawnpoint placement for both teams

– Grind
— Reduced lurk positions in mid for more fluid rotations.
— Lowered cover on A Short to allow boosting over smokes.
— Removed unintended boost locations.
— Fixed multiple bomb stuck spots.
— Minor quality of life and art updates.

– Mocha
— Clipping improvements.
— Navigation mesh improvements.
— Added additional bombsite markers.
— Bug fixes: deathmatch gamemode spawns, CT spawn soundscape, minor lighting errors.

– Cache
— Performance optimizations. (Thanks leplubodeslapin!)
— Reduced bird sounds volume.
— Reduced contrast on some textures.
— Brightened sky slightly.
— Fixed minor issues. (Thanks imik!)
— Restored vivid color to select textures and models.
— Restored select details even on lowest graphical settings.

[CSGO 360 STATS]
– Adjusted the calculation for the weapon performance category score.

[MISC]
– Fixed a case where players would receive duplicate warnings about launching in untrusted mode.

[MAPS]
Ancient
-Implemented Cubby 2.0 in mid connector to A, to remove cheap shoulder angle towards site
-Slimmed down the fancy rock, also in mid connector to A
-Sparsed foliage and improved clipping on boost planter near A main
-Quieted down soundscape birds
-Removed clipping from top of bombsite sign in A site, allowing you to self-boost to planter by T main
-Added vphysics clip to T spawn water so guns don’t fully submerge
-So many clip brush tweaks
-Blocked grenades from entering inaccessible building by T entrance to mid
-Blocked pixelgaps through scaffolding near B site
-Blocked pixelgaps through doorway trim in new CT path to A site
-Simplified grenade collision on rooftops
-General optimizations

Grind
– Made wall on A long surfable
– Fixed invisible wall near B site
– Fixed out of map boost near A site
– Fixed collision of wall near A site
– Fixed collision of pillars around A site
– Minor art updates around T spawn

Frostbite
– Fixed a regression with airdrops
– Fixed stuck spots (thanks Jakob & conzept)
– Fixed a gap in terrain
– Reworked watchtower models

[ CS:GO 360 STATS ]
– Updated heatmap images for calavera, grind, mocha, and pitstop

[ MISC ]
– Removed option to look for nearby players for Guardian Missions
– Security and stability improvements

[ MAPS ]
Ancient
– Updated minimap image

Pitstop
– Latest version from workshop

Today Operation Broken Fang comes to an end, but some of its more popular features will live on. Note that if you have unspent stars, you will have until May 15th to spend them, after which they will expire.
Premier Competitive and Retakes were popular and are sticking around. Premier Competitive is still an option in the Competitive tab and Retakes has a new home among the Wargames.

For those of you that want to continue collecting your official Competitive and Wingman stats (or those of you that didn’t participate in Operation Broken Fang but want to try out the stats feature), you can now subscribe to CS:GO 360 Stats for $0.99 per month. It includes access to the CS:GO 360 Stats page as well as your team’s Round Win Chance report in Competitive and Premier game modes. Additional information can be found in our CS:GO 360 Stats help article.

Map Pool Changes
As part of today’s update we are making changes to the Active Duty Map Pool. Train is leaving the station, and Ancient is taking its place with a revamped A Site and minor changes to B site.

We’re also updating the community maps available in the game. Mocha and Grind are now available to play in Competitive Scrimmage, as well as in Defusal Group Sigma in other game modes.



Additionally, Calavera and Pitstop are now available to play in Wingman.



New Weapon Cassssse
The Snakebite Weapon Case features 17 community-designed weapon finishes, and includes the Broken Fang set of gloves as rare special items!

– Numerous security and stability improvements.

As we enter the 2021 RMR season, we’ve decided to revisit some of our event guidelines.

Up until today, players were ineligible to participate in Valve-sponsored events if they had ever received a VAC-ban in CS:GO. These guidelines had not seen an update since the game was new and all CS:GO VAC bans were relatively recent. But VAC bans can now be more than 8 years old. So we’ve decided to update them.

Moving forward, a VAC ban will only disqualify a player from an event if it was either received less than 5 years prior, or if it was received at any time after their first participation in a Valve-sponsored event (e.g., after participating in a qualifier for an RMR event). Note that VAC bans stay in place with all of their other effects; the only change is how they influence your eligibility to play in Valve-sponsored events.

There are other reasons a player may not be eligible to participate in Valve-sponsored events. These remain unchanged.

We hope you’re as excited as we are for the upcoming 2021 RMR events. Stay tuned for more information as we head toward the Stockholm Major this Fall!