The skin trading on Steam is taking absurd turns in Counter-Strike 2 in 2023. Ubisoft is now willing to take on the annoyance and announces a marketplace for skin trading in their shooter Rainbow Six Siege.
What kind of feature is this?
- In many multiplayer games today, there are purely cosmetic skins for heroes or weapons. In games like LoL or Fortnite, such cosmetic skins are permanently tied to the account and cannot be exchanged. There is simply no system for this.
- In Counter-Strike 2 and previously in CS:GO, these skins are obtained through loot boxes and can be exchanged. Some weapon skins in CS:GO are traded for absurdly high sums of real money: Individual, particularly rare skins are worth several hundred thousand euros.
- Ubisoft is now planning its own version of this skin trading in their popular tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege: a skin marketplace.
Marketplace with premium currency for Rainbow Six Siege
How is this supposed to work? According to PC Gamer, the “skin marketplace” will be accessible via a browser and mobile. It will only be possible to trade using R6 Credits, the premium currency of Rainbow Six Siege.
It is still unclear whether the skins will go to the highest bidder or if there will be fixed prices.
A beta for the feature is supposed to start “soon” (via Ubisoft), with the full launch of the marketplace planned for 2024.
Why do the skins in CS:GO cause so much trouble? The skins and the trading of skins have contributed significantly to CS:GO’s popularity: The skins are practically assets and speculation objects that can be sold for real money at any time.
However, the skins have also caused problems for Valve repeatedly: There were betting sites where players could use skins to gamble or place bets on the outcomes of e-sports matches. This was heading towards “illegal gambling.”
It is unclear how Ubisoft plans to design the shop to avoid such problems.
A long-standing game like Rainbow Six Siege has countless skins, so it is uncertain how the market for skins in the game could develop if a marketplace goes online, like in CS 2.
In Counter-Strike 2, there are traders who specialize in skins and whose account is incredibly valuable:
