This summer, Valve launched a huge CS:GO art contest asking fans to create weapon skins inspired by the theme of ‘Dreams and Nightmares’, with the winning ten entries set to earn their makers a slice of a whopping $1 million prize pool and the addition of their creations to the live FPS game. Now, those winning weapon skins have been unveiled – and it turns out there were far more than ten worthy entries.
“The CS:GO team reviewed over 15,000 entries from artists from all parts of the globe, and decided that ten winning submissions wouldn’t be enough,” Valve posts on the contest’s site. “So, an additional seven were selected (17 total) for a grand total prize pool of $1.7 million.” Phwoar. 24 different artists produced the winning creations and, impressively, 14 of these were first-time contributors to the game’s Steam Workshop.
The studio says it’s getting in touch with the winning artists to work with them on shipping the dazzling new skins to the game – but we can get a good look at what’s coming right now.
The contest page gives us a preview of all the winning skins, and there’s a real mix of styles in the batch. Nextgenz’s AK ‘Nightwish [Pearlescent]’ skin has a psychedelic, almost cyberpunk-style vibe with vivid colours and a stylised beast’s head among the patterns, while Sorarox’s sawed-off shotgun skin draws on a Ouija board inspiration, with a chunky, etched wood look.
We’re excited to announce winners for the Dreams & Nightmares weapon finish contest! We received over 15,000 entries and have selected 17 winning submissions. See the winners here: https://t.co/oFzcb0nP7N
— CS:GO (@CSGO) November 21, 2021
Maloo’s ‘Space Cat’ PP-Bizon skin is also really fun, with a cartoon-style cat in white-grey creeping its way down the weapon with a black background. Then there’s TheDanidem’s striking ‘Starlight’ skin if unicorns are your thing. You can check out the rest of the 17 winners on Valve’s site at that link. There’s no word on when they’ll hit the game just yet, but hopefully it won’t be too long from now.
For the time being, there are some new Battlefield 2042 stickers that have just come to the game to celebrate the debut of DICE’s shooter, which you can pick up as a capsule if you’re keen.