Reporter KXZ
— The virtual skin market for
CS:GO 2
experienced a severe downturn yesterday, with its total market value plummeting from $5.9 billion to $4.2 billion, erasing nearly $2 billion in value within a single day. The sharp decline particularly impacted high-end skins, with several rare items seeing steep price drops.
Market data revealed that premium skins, including Professional Gloves and Butterfly Knives, fell by more than 50% in value. The crash was primarily triggered by a major update from the game’s developer, Valve. The newly introduced "trade-up contract" system now allows players to combine five Red-tier skins to craft a Gold-tier skin, fundamentally changing how these exclusive items are obtained.
Before the update, Gold-tier skins were among the rarest items in the game, obtainable only through unlocking weapon cases at random or purchasing them on the Steam Community Market and third-party platforms. The new system has significantly lowered the barrier to acquiring these items, directly undermining the scarcity-driven pricing model.
The market turmoil has affected both casual players and dedicated skin investors. Industry observers note that this marks the largest single-day loss in the history of the
CS:GO
series, with the long-term implications still to be fully seen.
(Reported by KXZ based on publicly available market data.)
