CS:GO skin prices drop along with the CS2 case fever

The boom in sales of CS:GO cases and skins triggered by the CS2 hype is apparently over.

After the announcement of CS2, the skin market has exploded, despite Valve’s promise to keep all the cosmetic elements. Not only have rare skins gone up in price, but so have most CS:GO cases, even those that used to only cost pennies. CS:GO cases have skyrocketed in price on the Steam Market since the CS2 reveal, with some costing six times as much.

However, after the peak that occurred between April 15 and 20, case prices have started to fall again, as you can see on the Steam Market. Of course, the prices for the most expensive skins are still at an unattainable level, but normal skins are slowly starting to cost less again.

Case prices will fall again

Compared to last month, the case prices are nearing the same numbers as they used to be. For example, the Recoil Case went from $0.6-$0.9 to a peak of almost $2 and then fell out to $1. If the trend continues, the cases will return to their “normal” prices.

The CS:GO skins also reflect this development, especially the cheaper ones, since the top skins are naturally more likely to increase in price even further.

As another example, we have a worn USP-S Cortex. The chart shows almost exactly the same trend: a slow rise since March and a fall after April 20.

AK-47 holds record for most expensive skin

Amidst the mentioned CS:GO market peak, a new record deal has been set, with the buyer reportedly paying $400,000 for their new AK-47 Case Hardened with four titanium stickers and a well-worn $100,000 karambit. 

According to zipeL, who acted as broker for this deal, this is the highest trade ever recorded in skin trading history. ZipeL has said it is the “second largest deal” as he has previously reported on another case. The most expensive knife was also a karambit, but brand new. However, the deal was never completed. The collector has refused to sell the knife for €1.2m (~$1.5m at the time).

More than half of the AK’s price comes from rare titanium holos from Katowice 2014. Each of these examples reportedly costs around $60,000. In March 2023, another Case Hardened AK-47 was sold for $160,000, the highest price at the time.