Counter-Strike 2 has only been out for a few months, but the tactical shooter is already a massive hit. CS2 takes the formula players know and love from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but updates the backend to the Source 2 engine. It’s the first chapter in more than a decade for Counter-Strike, so it was important that Valve got it right. Fortunately, fans have been mostly happy after some initial rough patches. Of course, with this being Counter-Strike 2, fans are always paying attention to how much skins are selling for. On Black Friday, a new major sale took place, and one CS2 player made off with a six-figure payday.
The news was first posted by Jake Lucky on Twitter, who noted that an “AK-47 Case Hardened with 4x Titan Holos” was sold for $132,500. That is a massive sum, easily making for one of the biggest sales we’ve ever seen in the franchise. As noted by Lucky, that’s the price of a house in some areas of the world, making it a bit mind-boggling that someone would spend that much on some pixels. Of course, Counter-Strike fans aren’t new to gun skins selling for thousands of dollars. In fact, the Karambit – Case Hardened (Blue Gem) knife skin is reportedly worth more than $1.5 million after its owner turned down a similar bid relatively recently. It’s safe to say, things can get a bit wild in the gun skin market in CS2.
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Why Are Gun Skins So Expensive in Counter-Strike 2?
It’s tough to say why players pay so much for these skins, but the easy answer is that it’s all about supply and demand. Every CS2 skin fits into a specific rarity tier, and players are willing to spend a ton to get some of the rarest skins. Here are the eight different levels of rarity:
- Consumer – White
- Industrial – Light blue
- Mil-Spec – Blue
- Restricted – Purple
- Classified – Pink
- Covert- Red
- Contraband – Orange
- Extraordinary – Gold
Of course, it’s not just rarity that can make a skin expensive. Players also care about a skin’s wear and it’s pattern. As a skin is used in-game, its value goes down because it becomes scratched. The AK-47 skin is pristine, and it comes with four Titan Holo decals, which are among the most desired by collectors. All of that adds up to the astronomic price.
Counter-Strike 2 is available now on PC.
