Can farming Armory credits get you banned in CS2?

PM and Editor

Publish Date: October 10, 2024

Valve may not shell out quick bans for cheating, but it’s not messing around when it comes to Armory credits farming. The developer is now banning everyone who has illicitly collected XP in CS2.

On October 2, Valve refreshed the CS2 skin ecosystem with the Armory pass. The battle pass grants shiny new weapons in exchange for Armory credits earned by playing the game. However, hours of gameplay grants only a few credits, inspiring players to find crooked ways to gather XP quickly. Valve later shut down the XP farmers by nerfing the knife, but the damage had already been done.

While Valve couldn’t reverse the credits gained by farming XP in deathmatch mode, it’s now rolling out timely and severe punishment for everyone involved in the exploit.

XP farming in CS2 can get you banned for a year

Recently, players started getting a “trading privileges suspended” text box upon starting CS2. According to the message, players who exploited bugged lobbies in Deathmatch on official Counter-Strike 2 servers will have their trading privileges taken away for a whole year.

CS2 trade ban

All bans will be lifted on October 1, 2025. This is quite a shocker for skin collectors and traders since the game would work as usual. Players will only be barred from sending trade offers, which is quite a big deal for those who work in the CS2 skin market.

What happens when you get trade banned in CS2?

CS2 players with a trade ban will be unable to trade or use the market if Steam Support has banned their account from trading. The game, however, will run normally.

Surprisingly, several notable content creators have also been affected. CS2 YouTuber Sparkles, who has 2.4 million subscribers, confirmed that his account has received the trade penalty. Creators are likely getting banned left and right not just for participating, but for creating exploited lobbies. Since they have a solid following and influence, it was pretty easy for CS2 creators to put together XP farming lobbies. This comes as a shock, as many didn’t expect Valve to suddenly crack down on XP farming while cheaters still run rampant.

Affected players have begun creating burner accounts to continue their activities, but they are still unable to sell or trade skins from their banned accounts. While some view the punishment as too harsh, others believe it sets a necessary precedent for dealing with XP farmers in CS2.