The cheating in CS:GO was going unchecked and lately, there has been an effort to curb it. However, the
recent initiative undertaken by the management seems to have caused a setback of a different kind. It is
impacting the player base of one of Steam's biggest games. It was at the recent June 3rd patch that Valve
issues an extensive rework of the Prime Status of CS:GO. It is a form of designation, which is required to
play competitive. Earlier players had other options and they could reach the designation by playing
enough of the game. They also had the option to buy it. The rules change from June 3rd and now Prime
Status can be purchase for a flat $15. It should now transform a soft play wall into a firm paywall.
The management clarified that SteamCharts has been recording the recent concurrent player count
averages. They go on to say that the game has seen a drop in player count to the tune of  16.7%. If you
desire pure numbers we would like to say that the average player loss stands at 1,00,000. We would
however insist that one must not put the whole blame on the June 3rd patch. It is quite similar to any other
multiplayer game, the CS:GO's player base is known to fluctuate. It is a popular game on PC
undoubtedly, but still, the alarming rate of decline this month has caught everyone’s notice. It is the
biggest decline since the year 2018. 
The change to the Prime Status is a big reason for this decline surely. It is ever since its inception Prime
Status has strived to bring in fair play and they have done everything to make it harder for cheaters. It has
also made it tough for smurf accounts to enter ranked play. It is through a blog post there was an open
admission by Valve that ever since they went free-to-play, some bad actors had abused CS:GO's Prime
Status. The intention was to hurt the experience of both new and existing players. Hence, the management
had to act and took care of grandfathering the accounts that already have the Prime Status. However, any
account, which did not have this status after two weeks will have to shell out $15 to play CS:GO's
marquee Competitive mode. 
The Valve management hopes that the inclusion of a competitive paywall will play a crucial role in
keeping cheaters at bay. The other sections of CS:GO, like casual matches and the Danger Zone battle
royale mode, remain free-to-play.