Operation Riptide was the eleventh and last operation in CS:GO history: it ran from September 22, 2021, to February 22, 2022, and the pass cost $15. Players completed weekly missions, earned stars and spent them on skins from the Dust 2 2021, Mirage 2021 and Vertigo 2021 collections, agents, stickers and cases. No new operation has been released since CS2 arrived in September 2023; today the Armory Pass plays a similar role.
You could join the operation without a pass, but you couldn't claim the rewards you earned into your inventory without buying it.
For 16 weeks, players were asked to complete weekly missions, for which they were rewarded with Operation Stars. If desired, these stars could be purchased for real money individually or in sets. Gamers were offered 2 sets to choose from:
10 stars;
100 stars.
For Operation Riptide, Valve created an operation store where participants could spend their stars on skins from special collections, models of terrorists or special forces, patches on models, as well as on cases and stickers.
All participants who purchased a pass were given a bronze medal, which was displayed on their profile. The medal upgraded to silver at 33 stars, gold at 66 stars and diamond at 100 stars. Only stars earned on missions counted.
Why Valve Ran the Operation
Valve's goal was clear: most matches are played on a handful of the most popular maps, above all Mirage, Dust 2 and Inferno. Valve is aware of how repetitive Counter-Strike can get and is trying to make sure that players do not get bored in the familiar scenery of Mirage or Inferno and in the same game modes, for example, Deathmatch or Competitive.
The second thing that the developers are interested in is the opportunity to test maps made by enthusiasts from the Steam community in Operation Riptide, assess the balance of the maps, look at the reaction of players and understand whether a specific map can be introduced into the competitive map pool on the professional stage. Most of these maps, of course, never make it further. The only exception here is Cache, which was used in tier-1 tournaments. Still, getting a map into an operation is a serious incentive for mapmakers, since they receive a share of revenue for an accepted map while the operation is running (several months).
How You Could Profit from the Operation
The most valuable rewards, and the reason many people took part in Operation Riptide, were the weapon skins from the Dust 2 2021, Vertigo 2021 and Mirage 2021 collections. Once the operation ended, they could no longer be redeemed from its store, so supply on the market is limited, and prices of the rare skins from these collections rose over time.
The Covert skins of these collections show it best: the AK-47 | Gold Arabesque from the Dust 2 2021 Collection now starts at ~$1,100, the AWP | Desert Hydra from the Mirage 2021 Collection at ~$950, and the M4A1-S | Imminent Danger from the Vertigo 2021 Collection at ~$590. They are among the most expensive skins released in the late CS:GO era, and the simplest way to get one today is to buy it on the market.
The same goes for the operation cases, which cost 2 stars each. Today the Operation Riptide Case costs about $8, and you can still open it with a key or resell it. It contains the AK-47 | Leet Museo, the Desert Eagle | Ocean Drive and Gamma Doppler knives such as the Butterfly Knife, Bowie, Huntsman, Falchion and Shadow Daggers. For how case drops work in the current game, see how case and skin drops work in CS2.
Another way to profit was Master-tier T and CT agents, which cost 25 stars in the operation store. Few people expected the SEAL Frogman divers to end up among the most expensive agents of the operation, since many considered them plain. Today Cmdr. Davida 'Goggles' Fernandez and Cmdr. Frank 'Wet Sox' Baroud cost about $35 to $40, and Lieutenant Rex Krikey about $15. For other character models, see types of agents in CS2.
Where to Sell Operation Items
If you still have Operation Riptide skins, agents or cases, you can sell them on LIS-SKINS and withdraw real money instead of Steam Wallet funds, which can't be cashed out. Our guide on selling CS2 skins without the Trade Protection delay explains how it works. You can also buy operation items there.
Be careful with little-known sites that promise to buy items at almost full market value: the risk of running into scammers is high. On LIS-SKINS, the amount you receive and the fee are shown before you confirm the sale.
How Operation Riptide Ended
Operation Riptide was officially completed on February 22, 2022. Valve allowed stars received during missions to be exchanged for rewards (skins, cases, etc.) until March 27, 2022. After that, the $15 pass stayed on sale for a while for players who wanted the bronze medal on their profile.
The operation also changed the CS:GO map pools of several modes:
Hive and Crete maps have been added to Wingman mode.
Ravine, County, Basalt, Extraction and Insertion 2 have been removed from the map pool.
Ember and Vineyard were added to Danger Zone (a mode that no longer exists in CS2).
Climb and Iris maps have been added to Deathmatch, Casual and Competitive modes.
Will There Be Another Operation?
After Riptide ended, many players expected the next operation, especially since the previous ones had launched in the fall or early winter: Broken Fang in December 2020 and Shattered Web in November 2019. You can read about the previous one in our article on Operation Broken Fang.
No new operation followed. In September 2023, CS:GO was replaced by CS2, and as of this update Valve has not run an operation in the new game. The closest equivalent today is the Armory: a paid pass gives stars that you exchange for charms, collection skins and cases. So Riptide remains the last operation in Counter-Strike history.
