Active Matter Editions Compared

Active Matter sells four digital editions. None of them are free-to-play. Standard is 29.99 USD/EUR in supported regions. Advanced, Premium, and Elite Squad cost more on the Gaijin Store editions catalog (about 49.98, 79.97, and 120). You can upgrade for the price difference on the account that made the original purchase. PC is playable now; Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 storefronts open 15 September 2026. Transfer rules for those storefronts sit on Steam and Console.

CAM in the table is Crystallised Active Matter, a one-time edition grant. Daily objectives still pay CAM later. A self-wipe does not restore the edition CAM pile; the balance you still hold persists, and edition items other than CAM restore. That is the whole reason the grant is labelled one-time on the store.

Edition	Price	Credits	CAM (one-time)	Stash	Replicator queue	Signature extras
Standard	29.99 USD/EUR	25,000	300	Base	Base	Starter gear pack (5 weapons, 1 modification, 10 equipment, 6 ammo)
Advanced	~49.98	60,000	1,300	First expansion	First expansion	Brass-knuckles knife Bouncer; Harpy scout-drone recipe
Premium	~79.97	135,000	3,800	First + second + third	First + second	Reaper sleeve; Anomalous Zone Veteran dog tag; extended armbands; Bonecrusher recipe; Robot Dog recipe; Harpy recipe; Woodcutter’s Argument hatchet; Bouncer
Elite Squad	~120	Premium amounts	Premium amount	Premium stash	Premium queues	Everything in Premium, plus two Standard keys for teammates

Edition stash and queue expansions accelerate those tracks. They do not stack on top of the same upgrades bought with in-game currency. After a self-wipe the edition bonuses stay in effect, so Premium’s three stash steps remain the reason to buy Premium even if you Harmonize later.

Standard — access and a starter crate

Standard is the game. You raid Dalniy Island, Downtown, Airport, Isolated and contested modes, and Nexus Battles. You get 25,000 credits, 300 CAM, and a small gear pack: five weapons, one modification, ten equipment pieces, six ammo stacks. That is enough to learn extracts and anomalies if you play carefully and sell junk in the Refiner.

Buy Standard if you want to test the loop, you already have friends with spare keys, or you plan to upgrade later. Gaijin calculates upgrades as the difference, so you are not punished for starting cheap. Do not buy Standard expecting Reaper, a second Replicator slot, or a Robot Dog — those sit in higher SKUs.

Advanced — stash, queue, Bouncer, Harpy

Advanced is 60,000 credits and 1,300 CAM, plus the first storage expansion and the first Replicator queue expansion. Personal backup weapon: brass-knuckles knife Bouncer. Replicator recipe: scout drone Harpy. The extra queue slot is the quiet win. Replication times for serious guns are hours, not minutes; a second slot means you can print a rifle and a support item on the same night instead of picking one.

Harpy is a scout drone recipe, not a pile of disposable copies. You still spend traces and wait on the machine, but you own the blueprint from minute one. Bouncer is a backup melee you keep through wipes as an edition item. Advanced is the pack for solo players who know they will raid more than a weekend and who hate staring at a one-slot printer.

Premium — Reaper, Bonecrusher, Robot Dog

Premium is the full personal kit: 135,000 credits, 3,800 CAM, Body Sleeve Reaper, army dog tag Anomalous Zone Veteran, an extended armband set, three stash expansions, two Replicator queue expansions, recipes for assault quad bike Bonecrusher, Robot Dog, and Harpy, plus backup melee Woodcutter’s Argument (hatchet) and Bouncer.

The Gaijin Premium gear crate on top of those recipes is large: PKM, M110A1, SV-98, SCAR-L, M4A1, SOK-94 Vepr, SPAS-12, MB590, hunting crossbow, Scorpion EVO 3, UMP45, MP5, MP-443, M9, war hammers, combat knives, a thermal S350F, TNG6, TA31, 1P69, PSO, collimators, suppressors, five Bonecrusher signal items, five Robot Dogs, five Harpies, safe containers, beacons, backpacks, pouches, SF / A3 / PASGT helmets, Titan / ceramic / steel plates, injectors, kits, and matching ammo. Treat that crate as a runway, not a forever loadout. 250 Shades of Liberty reworked pouches and medkits; reprint from recipes once you know Downtown pocket rules.

Reaper is the reason veterans still talk about Premium. It is a Body Sleeve with a combat identity, not a sticker. Bonecrusher is the quad you throw as a signal when a Downtown avenue is too long to cross on foot. Robot Dog hauls loot and, after Liberty, can extract without an escort. Buy Premium if you raid several nights a week, you want the sleeve and the two signal recipes, and you do not need to gift copies.

Elite Squad — Premium plus two Standard keys

Elite Squad is one Premium plus two Standard keys for teammates, discounted versus buying three copies separately. You see the keys in Gaijin purchase history; friends redeem at the Gaijin activate page. Gifted Standard does not include pre-order cosmetics. Those friends can upgrade their own copies later.

On Steam, Elite Squad owners receive Premium (same bonuses, no extra keys). Friends who already redeemed the gifted keys receive Standard. If you refund Elite Squad, activated bonus keys deactivate. Gaijin refunds require under two hours played.

Buy Elite Squad only if you have two people who will actually redeem and raid with you. A three-stack that mains Nexus Battles or contested Downtown is the target. A solo player who wants Reaper should buy Premium and skip the keys.

Upgrades, CAM, and who should pay what

On Gaijin, log into the purchase account and pay the difference. Standard → Advanced is listed around 19.99 with 35,000 credits and 1,000 CAM, which matches the table math (60k − 25k, 1,300 − 300). After you link Steam, upgrades move to the Steam store. CAM from any edition is one-time. Spend it on progress and Shelter options you are sure about; a wipe will not refill it.

Who should buy what

• New, unsure, or upgrading later → Standard.
• Solo, hates one-slot printing, wants Harpy → Advanced.
• Regular raider who wants Reaper, Bonecrusher, Robot Dog, and triple stash → Premium.
• Locked three-stack buying together → Elite Squad.

Then set hardware from system requirements, learn the loop in Getting Started, and rebuild guns from the weapons tier list once the starter crate is spent. Patch notes that change the Replicator — including 0.4.0.62 moving it to the Workshop — live on the Updates Hub. Official refund and key text stays in the official FAQ.