Why Are CS2/CSGO Skins So Expensive?

Players love the idea of being able to customize their weapon loadouts with cool cosmetics, enhancing the gaming experience. However, skins can get pretty pricey, with some costing hundreds up to thousands of dollars. In this article, we’ll answer the question, “why are CSGO skins so expensive?”

Counter-Strike skins were released in the game in 2013 as a part of the Arms Deal Update. Skins are essentially weapons with different textures and designs that can be equipped by players in game. They are solely for cosmetic purposes, and do not offer players an advantage. 

After a decade of being introduced, the Counter-Strike skins market has been on an upward trajectory and is already a billion-dollar industry. Several rare skins can easily cost players hundreds of dollars, while some of the most expensive skins can reach up to hundreds of thousands.

Valuable CS2 skins are usually obtainable by unboxing a weapon case, while others can be received through in-game drops. To get these rare skins, players must buy a weapon case and a case key to unbox it. 

These in-game pixels are tradable and marketable, meaning it can be sold and transferred to other players. This game-changer has allowed Counter-Strike skins to become actual investments that can be bought and sold after holding. 

Now that we have understood what Counter-Strike skins are, let’s actually think about why players would spend fortunes on gaming skins. 

There are four primary factors that affect the value of a weapon skin:

• Skin rarity
• Float values
• Unique skin patterns
• Supply and demand

Let’s go over each of these aspects and identify how CSGO skins can cost real money. 

Skin Rarity 

Each Counter-Strike weapon skin falls under a rarity category which plays a significant role in determining the price of the skin. Skins of higher rarities are more difficult to obtain, which results in them being valued higher.

The weapon rarity categories are as follows:

• Consumer Grade (Gray)
• Industrial Grade (Light Blue)
• Mil-Spec (Blue)
• Restricted (Purple)
• Classified (Pink)
• Covert (Red)
• Exceedingly Rare Special Item (Gold)

For example, Covert is the highest rarity in Counter-Strike weapon skins, as Exceedingly Rare items fall under the category of knives and gloves. Players only have a 0.64% chance of unboxing a Covert skin from a weapon case. These figures should already give you an idea of why some top-tier skins can be extremely pricey.

In Counter-Strike, knives and gloves are among the most expensive item types in the game. Believe it or not, players only have a 0.26% chance to unbox a knife or a pair of gloves from a weapon case, which is equivalent to 1 in 385 cases! Solely using the odds provided, players would have to spend at least $1,000 on weapon cases and case keys to unbox a random one.

Float Values 

Every weapon skin will come with a specific float value once the skin has entered a player’s inventory. These float values are fixed for the skin’s entire lifetime.

Float values determine the wear and tear of a weapon skin, which essentially determines the overall quality of the skin. Does it have a lot of scratches, or does it look brand new? Skins with a lower float value correspond to a better condition, which increases their price.

Float values range from 0 to 1, meaning you’ll see them in decimal form. There are five float categories in the game, which are:

• Factory New (0 – 0.07)
• Minimal Wear (0.07 – 0.15)
• Field-Tested (0.15 – 0.38)
• Well-Worn (0.38 – 0.45)
• Battle-Scarred (0.45 – 1)

Skins in Factory New condition are the cream of the crop. As the name suggests, these skins come in near-flawless condition with minimal tears, giving you the best possible outcome of the weapon skin. 

Meanwhile, skins in Battle-Scarred and Well-Worn condition are often not sought out for by members of the community. There are so many scratches that most of the skin’s design is ripped off. 

Skin rarity and float values can be combined to determine how expensive a certain skin is. The combination of a high rarity and low float value is very hard to come across with the low odds provided by Valve. 

Unique Skin Patterns

Certain premium skins in the Counter-Strike market have unique patterns that give the skin a different design depending on their paint seed or phase. Some of the most notable patterns come from the Case Hardened, Doppler, and Gamma Doppler families.

When a skin is unboxed from a weapon case, the game will determine a random seed pattern from 1 to 1000. There are several patterns available in the game, and only some of them are desirable. Getting that 1 in 1000 pattern correctly will easily net you thousands of dollars. 

Case Hardened skins are notoriously known for being the most expensive ones in the entire game. Rare Case Hardened patterns are called “Blue Gems,” where the Case Hardened skin displays a predominantly blue hue. 

The most valuable skin, the Karambit | Case Hardened with the number one Blue Gem pattern is going for more than $1.5 million! The AK-47 | Case Hardened with the 661 pattern is also selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Doppler and Gamma Doppler knives have several phases, with some phases being more valuable. For Doppler knives, the Ruby and Sapphire phases are the most sought after. For Gamma Doppler knives, it’s the Emerald phase. Any of these three phases will increase the knife’s value up to ten times its normal value. 

Supply And Demand

Just like real-world economics, the Counter-Strike skins market is also driven by supply and demand of products. 

Some skins that do not look too appealing still might have expensive price tags due to the mechanics of the trade up contract. Players can obtain skins from the same collection through the trade up contract feature introduced by Valve. 

One of the most prevalent examples of such cases is the M4A1-S | Knight. The Knight is a plain looking skin, but is selling for thousands of dollars because it can be traded up for the AWP | Dragon Lore, arguably the most prestigious skin in the game. 

There are also supply-side factors that impact a skin’s performance in the market. For example, Valve discontinued several weapon cases, making them no longer active in drop rotations. As a result, the cases have become more scarce and the skins inside it become harder to obtain.