Counter-Strike 2's reveal has sent the game's skins market wild
Valve has done a Valve once more. Not only did it announce Counter-Strike 2(opens in new tab) out of nowhere but, with one finger raised aloft at all the web3 donkeys, announced that every skin from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive would be carrying over:
«Bring your entire CS:GO inventory with you to Counter-Strike 2. Not only will you keep every item you’ve collected over the years, but they’ll all benefit from Source 2 lighting and materials.»
CS:GO skins are a very big deal indeed, with people in extreme cases paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a new look for their gun. It's a marketplace that over time has only increased in value and thus has attracted those who want to keep it that way, and the announcement of Counter-Strike 2 and the fact skins will carry over has sent valuations all over the place: But mainly upwards.
Point being that for most players, myself included, skins are a nice optional element to the game. For others they are the game.
The general rule with CS:GO cosmetics and their value is the older the better. Skins that have been 'retired', meaning that the cases which you can get them from no longer drop, are the most valuable for obvious reasons, whereas skins that can be obtained from current cases are not so sought-after. This results in some weird outliers, and skins that were once unpopular skyrocketing in value.
There's also this assumption that when we discuss CS:GO skins, we're talking guns. That is the majority of it, but there are also agents (different avatars), patches which go on the avatar's uniform, and perhaps most importantly weapon stickers. I won't even pretend to understand the sticker market, which has seemingly random spikes in value all the time, but the time-limited
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