CS2’s latest update has certainly put the cat among the pigeons, and feathers are flying.
The innocuous-sounding patch “extended functionality of the ‘Trade Up Contract’ to allow exchanging five items of Covert quality as follows: five StatTrak Covert items can be exchanged for one StatTrak Knife from a collection of one of the items provided, five regular Covert items can be exchanged for one regular Knife item or one regular Gloves item from a collection of one of the items provided.”
What’s the big deal, you might wonder? To anyone who’s spent time with CS2’s economy, this update is game-changing.
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### Why Knives and Gloves Matter in CS2
CS2’s economy has certain constants, and one of the biggest is that the super-rare and most valuable items are knives—and, to a lesser extent—gloves. The price for a unique gun skin may sometimes skyrocket, but generally speaking, knives are the most sought-after commodity in the CS2 skin game.
Until this update, the only way to get a knife was either through the minuscule chance of opening a case or by buying one outright on the Steam Community Market.
Now, players can trade up five Covert items—marked red—to receive StatTrak knives, regular knives, or regular gloves. While Covert items aren’t incredibly rare, they aren’t common either. This update offers a relatively achievable path for many players to work their way toward a high-rarity, desirable item.
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### Market Impact: Panic and Price Shifts
The immediate aftermath of this update was panic among skin traders, who recognized its market-breaking potential. When more players can unlock “high-value” items like knives—which can be sold on the Steam Marketplace—the value of existing items tends to drop.
As a result, knife and glove prices are declining, while some Covert skins have surged massively in value.
Reports of the skins market tanking by $1 billion to $2 billion are common. Bloomberg even reported a staggering $1.75 billion market value lost overnight.
However, it’s important to approach these numbers with caution. Estimates often stem from third-party skin platforms and traders who have incentives to inflate values. High-end prices are also entangled with crypto and other speculative assets, making it difficult to assign a firm dollar figure to the market.
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### The Real Money in CS2 Skins
Yes, some CS2 skins sell for ludicrous sums—there are stories of $400K gun skins. But most of these multimillion-dollar transactions are heavily based on crypto or are otherwise speculative.
There’s definitely a lot of money swirling around in CS2 skins, but claims that this is a $7 billion industry losing billions overnight seem exaggerated.
What’s indisputable is that skin prices are volatile right now—some rising dramatically, some falling sharply.
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### Why Did Valve Do This?
There are plenty of community theories about Valve’s motivation. A popular Reddit thread speculates the update is because “Valve is hurting for cash,” which is complete nonsense.
Valve is extraordinarily profitable—thanks mostly to Steam—with per-head profits rivaling giants like Apple and Facebook. Counter-Strike 2 is an enormously popular game, boasting about 30 million players per month and consistently ranking among Steam’s best-sellers. For any other company, CS2 would be a golden goose.
But for Valve, it represents a relatively small part of their overall business. The idea that Valve would make this update because the company is financially struggling is absurd.
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### Valve’s Perspective on the Skins Market
In a 2023 interview with PC Gamer, the CS2 dev team said about the skins market:
> “We generally only look at market prices when we’re thinking about shipping new stuff and want to understand players’ preferences. Players’ interest in items fluctuates over time for many reasons, so outside of that context we try not to read too much into temporal changes. And as we were leading up to CS2 we were focused on other areas of the game, so while there may have been lots of interesting things going on in the market, we weren’t paying attention.”
This answer may seem evasive, and it’s hard to believe that the decision-makers truly ignore the skins economy. However, what seems more plausible is that Valve prioritizes the **long-term health of the game and the Steam ecosystem** over external, third-party trading platforms.
In other words, what some see as an economic disaster might actually make a lot of sense for Valve and CS2’s core economy—regardless of the disruption it causes outside their control.
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### Players’ Reactions and What’s Next
On the CS2 subreddit, reactions are mixed. There’s plenty of talk about market chaos and billions lost, but also a good number of players expressing excitement—finally, a chance to get a knife skin without spending a fortune.
The reality of this update will become clearer in the weeks to come. But one thing feels certain: Valve’s change has arguably improved things for the average Counter-Striker.
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### Conclusion
CS2’s recent update may have shaken up the skins economy, but it also opens new doors for everyday players. While skin traders and third-party platforms may bear the brunt of the fallout, Valve appears focused on the long-term sustainability of the game itself.
For players, this could mark the beginning of a more accessible and balanced skins market—something many have long hoped for.
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/valves-latest-counter-strike-2-update-flashbangs-entire-skins-market-headshots-speculators-and-clutch-defuses-inflationary-market-prices/