Free-to-play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players will no longer be able to earn XP, ranks, drops, or be assigned skill groups due to Valve's latest Prime system changes.

CS:GO, which went free over three years ago, separates paying and non-paying players by Prime status. Initially, paying players benefited from Prime-only matchmaking and special rewards, but non-Prime players were also able to participate in ranked matches and eventually enter the prestigious Prime pool.

"Unfortunately, these perks were an incentive for bad actors who were detrimental to the experience of both new and existing players. So today we are revising our perks for new players."

"New players will still be able to play all game modes, play on the community server, and play on the workshop map. However, they will not receive XP, ranks, drops, or skill groups.

Sadly, F2P players will no longer be able to advance to Global Elite. However, they are not completely shut out of matchmaking. Rather, Valve also introduced Unranked Matchmaking this week. This is a system where players are matched based on their skills, although they do not earn XP or rank up. Prime players can also participate if they want to play without having to worry about rank, or if they want to play with friends of vastly different levels.

If you are currently a free player and are worried about losing your playing spot, Valve promises that if you purchase a Prime upgrade within the next two weeks, your XP and rank will carry over. Otherwise, you're back to the bottom of the pile. Sorry.