Counter-Strike has always paired precision-focused tactical shooting with one of gaming’s largest virtual economies. After a software change from Valve, that economy plunged: roughly one-quarter of its value — about $1.8 billion — evaporated almost overnight following the October 22, 2025 update.
For context: Counter-Strike is a free-to-play multiplayer shooter that monetizes primarily through cosmetic items. Most cosmetics are distributed in Case drops that require Keys (bought with real money) to open. Players can also acquire items by trading or purchasing them on the Steam Community Market, and numerous unofficial third-party marketplaces have arisen to facilitate wider buying and selling.
Because Case rewards are randomized, the rarest skins command the highest prices on secondary markets. Lower-tier skins can be bundled via trade-up contracts to produce a single higher-tier item, but until now Knives and Gloves were excluded from those contracts. That exclusion made them exceptionally scarce; before the update, certain Knives — for example the Doppler Ruby Butterfly Knife — traded for sums in the tens of thousands on third-party sites.
The change Valve deployed on October 22, 2025 allows Covert (Red) tier items to be used in trade-up contracts that can yield Knives and Gloves. In practical terms, an item class that was effectively sealed off from trade-ups has been opened, dramatically increasing potential supply and reducing scarcity for the most prized cosmetics. Details of the update are available in Valve’s announcement. Read Valve’s bulletin.
The market reacted fast. That Doppler Butterfly Knife, once hovering around $20,000 on some storefronts, showed listings closer to $12,000 as sellers rushed to liquidate inventory — with reports of 15 units selling in a 16‑hour span around October 23, 2025.
Bloomberg reported a roughly 25% overnight drop in the market for Counter-Strike cosmetics, and market tracker Pricempire estimated the loss at about $1.84 billion. As Pricempire’s marketing manager told Bloomberg, the update “completely changes the supply of Counter-Strike’s most sought-after and expensive tier of items.”
Across multiple storefronts, sellers attempted to recoup value by posting mass listings, sparking fire sales and heavy traffic. Some marketplaces struggled under the load — for a time, Skinport even placed visitors in a waiting room while its servers handled surging demand.
Much like volatile NFT or cryptocurrency markets, virtual-item traders saw asset valuations swing sharply and quickly. A few lower-tier items experienced price gains, and Reds may gain some upward pressure because they can now be converted into Knives or Gloves, but those shifts don’t offset the steep collapse at the top of the market.
Whether prices stabilize, recover, or keep sliding remains uncertain. Many traders are watching closely: as of October 23, 2025, Pricempire reported its servers had crashed under the strain of the market upheaval.
Source: Polygon
