The major worry when shutting down something as far reaching as CS:GO’s skin gambling and betting industry is that it will crash an economy that many have invested in. While it’s mostly all Steam money for different coloured pixels, it’s still something people have put their money into and has value. Despite worries, it doesn’t seem like CS:GO’s skins have crashed in price – at least, not yet.
Here’s the full story of TmarTn, ProSyndicate and CSGOLotto, so far.
We’ve looked through a bunch of the most popular listings for items on the Steam community market, and the announcement two nights ago didn’t have much change on prices at all. In fact, the end of the Cologne major on July 10 is the only common dip, when the market was hit with batches of new skins opened from dropped crates.
None of them showed a significant impact from the announcement. In fact many have gained back the roughly 10% of value they lost during the somewhat-fire-sale on July 10. This is consistent across items that sell only every few hours and more common ones where dozens are passed between users daily.
At the very top-end, the most valuable items that dropped during the Cologne Major also haven’t significantly fallen. Souvenir AWP Dragon Lores, which if you don’t know your Counter-Strike is basically the most sought after item there is, are still selling for upwards of $7,000 – and that’s for the imperfect versions.
We’ll keep an eye on it, in case the reaction is delayed or gets more severe once the larger sites actually start going under.