The shock announcement of Counter-Strike 2 (opens in new tab), presently in a restricted beta and on account of launch this summer time, got here with one crucial piece of stories for current Counter-Strike: International Offensive gamers. All the weapon skins from CS:GO might be carrying over to the brand new recreation. CS:GO’s skins market has all the time been an enchanting aspect factor of the sport’s success, and uncommon skins going for foolish cash has been taking place for a very long time now, however this factor of the CS2 announcement noticed even pretty unremarkable skins start to spike in worth (opens in new tab).
Now, an AK-47 pores and skin has change into the most costly gun in CS:GO and doubtless videogame historical past (thanks Dexerto (opens in new tab)). The pores and skin is a minimal put on StatTrak Tier 1 Case Hardened AK-47 with a Blue Gem sample, the latter of which is sample 661 which, apparently, is the blue-est Blue Gem one can get. Along with this, the gun has 4 Katowice 2014 Titan Holo stickers utilized to it, that are every valued at round $60,000 (opens in new tab).
Minimal put on means the gun is definitely the second-best situation it may very well be in: A manufacturing facility new variant of this merchandise doesn’t presently exist however in idea may in the future be unboxed. Oh, and the kicker: That is the most costly particular person gun, however the most-desired and worthwhile pores and skin in CS:GO pores and skin stays the Blue Gem Karambit knife within the under video, which final yr was allegedly the topic of a $1.5 million bid (which the proprietor turned down). It is not even the most important single CS:GO transaction, which might be this (unconfirmed) sale (opens in new tab) of an AK-47 case hardened and a Memento AWP Dragon Lore for $775K (which if legit would conveniently worth every gun at slightly below $400K).
CS:GO pores and skin dealer zipeL brokered the sale for his enterprise colleague Luksusbums (opens in new tab), which included the AK-47 and a model of the Blue Gem Karambit (which is in nicely worn situation and thus considerably much less worthwhile than the above manufacturing facility new model). zipeL claims the overall worth of the commerce was over $500,000, with $400,000 of that for the AK-47 pores and skin, and it was accomplished on April 16.
I simply accomplished the second largest commerce in CS historical past! Offered these two on behalf of @Luksusbums – #1 AK-47 661 ST MW with 4x Titan (Holo) – Karambit #387 P1 in well-worn The mixed sale was +500,000$ pic.twitter.com/EbLyF2NaHqApril 16, 2023
zipeL then went on to have a little bit of a brag about it: “to all these nerds that mentioned come again to me when the AK sells for 400k you’re delusional zipeL, whats up bitches.” I’ve requested zipeL some questions concerning the sale and for some monetary proof of the transaction, and can replace with any response.
That’s maybe the factor value making an allowance for right here. CS:GO skins are a speculators’ market, and one which’s going by a reasonably unprecedented interval of pleasure due to the CS2 switch information. Over time I’ve seen many claims about this or that pores and skin being offered for megabucks, however hardly ever do you ever see the chilly exhausting proof of such sums of money altering palms. To be clear I am not disputing that this explicit transaction occurred (in any case, we stay in a world the place individuals purchase NFTs of apes), a lot as noting that what CS:GO’s skins market goes by proper now’s bizarre, unprecedented, and it is exhausting to know what’s actual and what’s merely a mirage.