Why Are CS:GO Skins So Expensive?

Released all the way back in August of 2013, skins have now become a staple of CS:GO. However, even for those new to the game, you’ll be sure to have heard of the absurd prices some of CS:GO’s skins can go for. Whether it be a pistol, rifle, or a unique knife pattern, the prices can reach up to the tens of thousands for even the simplest of skins. So, what causes players to shell out so much cash for these virtual items?

Skin Rarity

When it comes to determining a CS:GO skin’s value, you’ll need to look at several factors. Firstly, item rarity is one of the key players when valuing a skin. Below are the current rarities, ranked from most to least common.

• Consumer Grade
• Industrial Grade
• Mil-Spec Grade
• Restricted
• Classified
• Covert
• Extraordinary

There is also one other rarity, known as “Contraband”, which is currently only applied to the M4A4 Howl skin. This skin was released in 2014, and, due to art theft, was reskinned and removed from the Huntsman Weapon Case. This means that the only way to obtain an M4A4 Howl is through purchasing it from another player, as it is unable to be unboxed or crafted via a trade up contract. This has led to its steady increase in value over the years, where today it can fetch over US$10,000!

Currently, when unboxing a standard CS:GO case, you’ll get the chance to unbox a item between the Mil-Spec and Extraordinary rarities. If you’re looking to unbox Consumer and Industrial Grade items however, you’ll need to unbox a souvenir package which are dropped during CS:GO majors.

The more common a skin is, the more obtainable it will become, and therefore the cheaper it will be. This is why a lot of the Mil-Spec and Restricted skins are quite cheap, compared to the Covert and Extraordinary (knives and gloves) which are more likely to fetch hundreds of dollars.

Skin Wear

Another important factor is the wear of the skin. This is determined by the skin’s float value, which can range between 0 and 1. The closer the float value is to 0, the better the condition of the skin, and typically the more expensive the item will be. The current wear categories, from worst to best are:

• Battle-Scarred (float value of 0.45-1.00)
• Well Worn (float value of 0.38-0.45)
• Field Test (float value of 0.15-0.38)
• Minimal Wear (float value of 0.07-0.15)
• Factory New (float value of 0.00-0.07)

However, there are rare cases that when a skin has a high float value, it can price higher than those with a better float. For example, if you’re able to obtain an AWP Asiimov with a float value of 0.96 or greater, you can expect more than US$250 for the skin!

Case Availability

Case availability can also affect the price of CS:GO skins. Normally, players can expect to earn 1 or 2 cases a week depending on how much they play. The cases you’re able to obtain are dependent on which are currently in the “drop pool”, i.e the most recent cases selected to be given out. When a case is removed from the drop pool, whether it be because of its age or to make room for a new case, the case often rises in price due to its declining availability. This often makes skins in the case more expensive, as players will now have to pay more to obtain the case.

Stickers

Stickers, for those that are unaware, are an in-game item which can be applied to four different spots on a specific skin. They’re able to be “scraped” to appear more damaged, and are often placed on weapons to compliment the skin. Normally, stickers won’t have that much, if any, impact on a skin’s price. However, if the sticker is harder to find and placed on a popular weapon, they can increase the skin’s price drastically (albeit not more than the sticker and skin’s individual value).

For example, stickers from the EMS 2014 Katowice capsules are some of the most sought after and expensive stickers on the market. With individual prices ranging up to US$50,000, it’s no surprise that if placed on a popular weapon like an AK-47 or an AWP, they’ll cause the item's value to skyrocket. A more recent example is an AK-47 Case Hardened with 4 Titan Holos, which has an asking price of US$400,000, a bit more than its regular price of US$600!