kamran sharief Counter strike Global Offensive boasts an impressive player base monthly, even after their launch of their game in 2009. Last month, the game averaged around 570K players, peaking at a staggering 780K active unique players. So, with the popularity, the game introduced skins and cosmetics. The simplicity and familiar environment keeps players actively playing and coming back.
The most expensive trade has been clocked in at a staggering $780,000 cash for two Items
In June last year, news about the largest transaction ever in the history of CS:GO made headlines when someone, probably a high roller collector, purchased two skins for a combined sum of $780,000 USD.
The news about this deal was originally broken through a Chinese Tik Tok video, but most of the CS:GO community got to know about it through a trader who goes by the name of “Kirito” on Twitter.
Alternative ways of getting or winning skins
Technically, you could get skins just by playing the game, and if you are lucky they’ll drop a skin to you after a game. But this process can be time consuming and annoying. Websites like csgoradar.com have a list of the best CSGO case opening sites listed, scored and ranked, based on the feedback of the community.
How do the creators make money from skins?
The terms of service of this game does mention that an owner never actually owns the skins even if they buy it or win it. The ownership stays with Valve (the creators of the series). Also, they will take a transaction fee on the steam market each time you buy or sell something. So it is normal to conclude that these cosmetics are “big-money” for these companies. The top skin is right now retailing around 28K USD. Technically all transfers happen on the Steam market which is not a part of the game, but the owners of the game are the same owners of the Steam market. This is their main source of income when it comes to skins.
In the gaming industry or the gambling industry?
In the game you can buy cases which when opened get you a brand new skin. The cost price of a case varies from a few cents to a few dollars. In order to open these cases you’ll need to buy a key too. A key retails around $2 – $4, and the skins you’ll get from that box are mostly only worth 12 cents. So let’s round it up to 4 USD per case you want to open.
It sparks the question: is this company involved in making games to the best of their abilities or are they more involved in the gambling industry? The odds of the cases hitting an expensive skin were first not known to the public, until the Chinese government forced CS:GO to make the drop chances known to the public.