In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO on Steam) there is a lively trade in skins for the game. With the announcement of CS2, where skins can be reused, prices are rising. A Danish collector is currently benefiting from this hype. The 28-year-old is closing big deals..
What’s the deal with skins in the Steam shooter? In CS:GO there are cosmetic skins that change the appearance of the weapons. Many players have them, but in CS:GO they are something special, an economic factor:
- These skins have been traded on the Steam marketplace for years and a kind of shadow economy has been established here.
- Thus, skins act as a substitute for real money. There have been wild stories about “gambling sites” in Antigua, where skins are played with like money.
- Collectors trade and hoard these skins like stamp collectors: There are certain skins that are special editions or misprints. With “stickers” these skins are additionally refined. Especially skins that can no longer be obtained increase in value over the years.
First Free2Play, then CS2 – Counterstrike booms on Steam and Twitch
Why is it booming right now? CS:GO has been experiencing a surge on Steam for 3 years since Valve made the game “Free2Play”. Since then, CS:GO has regularly broken player count records. Because CS:GO is one of Valve’s “in-house games”, it has a home advantage on Steam like DOTA 2 or Team Fortress 2 and is constantly one of the biggest games.
Additionally, CS:GO has been a constant presence on Twitch due to a general lack of new games and a strong esports scene, and it continues to grow.
In 2023, Valve also announced that with “CS2″ a major update for CS:GO is coming.
The special thing: All skins from CS:GO will still work in the new version. This has greatly boosted the skin market.
Danish collector makes big deals
Who is cashing in right now? On Twitter, there is a Danish skin trader who goes by the name “zipeL”. He says on Twitter that he has a business degree that he is wasting, and he buys and sells skins in CS:GO, while also co-founding two of his own websites.
The man says he sold 2 items for a total of over $500,000 in a first auction. According to him, it was the second largest trade in CS:GO’s history.
On one hand, he sold a special AK-47 that sported 4 holographic stickers from the “2014 Katowice ESL Major” tournament of the “Titans” team, which further increased its value. As 3DJuegos knows, the stickers are particularly valuable because the “Titan” team only participated in this tournament in 2014 and disbanded due to cheating allegations.
Additionally, the trader sold the knife “Karambit P1 #387 well-worn”.
For both items, he claims to have taken in over $500,000. He made the deal on behalf of “Luksusbums.”
New auction already at $210,000 and sure to bring in more money
What is he planning now? The trader launched another auction on April 19. This time he is selling the weapon “m4A4 Howl” – it is one of the rarest skins in CS:GO due to a copyright lawsuit. Therefore, there is only a limited supply for the weapon.
This skin also bears 4 holographic stickers from “iBUYPOWER Katowice 2014” – according to 3DJuegos, these are the most valuable stickers in the game. Each of the stickers is traded for up to $67,000.
This skin has already received bids of $210,000 and could still rise.
So it’s apparently a very good time to be a collector of CS:GO skins with a full inventory.
Hopefully, people with their wealth obtained through CS:GO have more joy than this man:
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