Counter-Strike skins just crashed.
Credit: Valve
Overnight, Valve released a new patch for Counter-Strike 2 and one small change to how cosmetics work has crashed the entire CS skins market, with some items listing hundreds of dollars of value in just a few hours.
The patch notes for Counter-Strike 2 were headlined by the return of the Retakes mode and some map changes, but hidden towards the bottom was a new feature related to skins. Now players can trade in five StatTrak Covert items, which while rare, do not typically run into the crazy money some high value skins do, and in exchange receive a StatTrak Knife, which were some of the most expensive items available. You can then also trade in five regular Covert items, which again are not typically super high end, and receive a regular Knife item or a regular Gloves item, which typically have carried higher prices.
This is now a guaranteed way to secure some of the rarer cosmetic items in Counter-Strike 2, something that has not really been possible before, and as a result a lot of players have taken Valve up on the offer. This has obviously had a major impact on the prices of a lot of items, and the overall market.
While most of the items that can be used to trade up to get a knife or gloves have risen in price, the prices of the knives and gloves has absolutely tanked, with some losing around 70% of their value in the last 24 hours.
The move is somewhat surprising, given Valve can make a ton of money by taking a cut of any skin sales on their community marketplace system, but this could actually be a smart move for the company, given a lot of high value items such as knifes and gloves are typically traded on external sites where Valve does not get a cut. By destroying the price of those items, there is less incentive to trade them elsewhere and instead do it on Steam, giving Valve a cut they would otherwise miss out on.
There is also some speculation that this could be the start of a wider change to the CS skins economy, with Valve potentially looking to move away from loot boxes, which are becoming increasingly regulated across the world, and move to other systems instead. This follows a new type of Counter-Strike 2 case released earlier in the year that lets you unlock it and see the item inside for free, but requires you to pay a set price to actually get the item, rather than gambling on what it inside the box when you buy it.
