Counter-Strike Skin Acquired for $1 Million to Become Most Expensive Publicly Sold Skin in History of Game

Recently, a weapon skin (a variant color and pattern for an in-game gun) worth over $1 million changed hands, making it the most expensive skin ever sold in public in the history of the game.

The private bidder didn’t reveal the total amount paid for the skin, although it was mentioned that the deal was valued at above $1 million. It was a unique weapon skin, a StatTrak Factory New AK-47 in Blue Gem (Pattern 661), kept under wraps for over 10 years. Although the owner was never identified, it was always recognized that the skin was valuable, even though it was known to be in the “wild”.

Slightly “More Worn” Variant of This Skin Was Sold for Nearly Half Million Earlier

When the unique Blue Gem AK-47 skin was “found” in January 2024, many gamers assumed it had been taken out of its packaging and placed inside a CS weapon case. It’s thought that the amazing pull belonged to a collector for numerous years, despite having the power to instantly make an ordinary gamer a fortune. A slightly “more weathered” version of this skin went for an incredible $400,000 at auction in 2022, but it’s by no means the most expensive Counter-Strike skin ever sold.

Jake Lucky, a YouTuber covering Counter-Strike and eSports in general, broke the news on social media and posted a beautiful montage of the weapon.

Some CS Skins That Were Bought for Huge Money Thus Far

A $150,000 rare Blue Gem Karambit knife was unboxed by a user last year after just a few weeks of playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (before a super-popular installment of the series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games changed its name to Counter-Strike 2). Before that, a super-rare AK-47 skin was purchased for an incredible $160,000 by a wealthy Chinese collector.

Many have referred to CS skins as the “OG NFTs” (OG stands for “Original Gangster”, and it’s a term used by NFT and cryptocurrency communities to refer to early users of Web3 and blockchain technology), but it’s amusing that these high-end cosmetics have outlasted the most well-liked NFTs in terms of value and most likely will for some time to come.

Counter-Strike 2 Lets Players Earn Loot Boxes Through Gameplay

Players can obtain weapon cases (loot boxes) in Counter-Strike 2, formerly known as CS: GO, by playing the game or buying them from the store. However, in order to open a weapon case, a key is needed. Once more, these can be acquired through gameplay or bought from the store.

The competitive FPS is available for free to play, but there’s a substantial economy centered around the weapon skins that these loot boxes contain. The rarer items can be purchased, traded, and sold by players to one another via in-game currency; in the past, they’ve sold, as we mentioned, for even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Now, by some governments (US, UK, and Australia, for example), loot boxes are considered a form of gambling. In order to evade regulation and circumvent the law, game creators first convert your real money into in-game currency. However, the reality remains that, in light of this, game firms are taking a morally reprehensible stance. The law would swoop in to catch them for pushing children to bet if the cash wasn’t first converted to in-game money. Many countries don’t consider loot boxes and skin betting to be gambling because of the way money is moved when they are purchased. These countries permit loot boxes and skin betting through CS2 betting sites, some of which are in high demand because of the promotions they provide.

Even after being forced to switch to Counter-Strike 2 in September 2023—more than two decades after the original game’s release—CS: GO is still a PC classic that’s incredibly popular. As for CS2, it had an average of 958,207.3 players on Steam, one of the most widely used digital video game distribution systems in the world for purchasing and playing video games, in May.