Counter-Strike is a megapopular tactical shooter, and one of the reasons for its sustained popularity is its in-game market. Digital items like gloves and knives go for thousands--if not millions--of dollars, but all of that changed within the last few hours as a new update completely wiped out roughly $1.75 billion in value.
According to a new Bloomberg report, in-game CS items ranging from guns to knives to gloves fell 25% between Wednesday, October 22, and Thursday, October 23. In these two days, developer Valve Corporation pushed out an update for the shooter that altered the exchange rates of these items. Immediately following this update, the prices for these items tanked, with market analytics company Pricempire estimating the losses in the billions. Ethan MacDonald, the company's marketing manager, told Bloomberg that he was stunned by the change.
"This was a complete shock to the community," he said. "This completely changes the supply of Counter-Strike's most sought-after and expensive tier of items."
A huge number of players have been affected by this update. One 20-something trader Bloomberg spoke with had $1 million of digital items in his inventory on Wednesday, but by Thursday, he had lost upwards of $270,000. Chinese players, who Bloomberg noted are some of the game's primary traders, criticized the price shift on the ByteDance-owned, short-form video platform Douyin. This all led MacDonald to believe the "bubble" had burst.
In other Counter-Strike news, a troupe of modders announced a remake of the 1.6 version of the game called Counter-Strike: Legacy. Slated for a release sometime this year via Steam Early Access, it appears that the project has run into some trouble with Valve, with some reports suggesting that it may be shut down.
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According to a new Bloomberg report, in-game CS items ranging from guns to knives to gloves fell 25% between Wednesday, October 22, and Thursday, October 23. In these two days, developer Valve Corporation pushed out an update for the shooter that altered the exchange rates of these items. Immediately following this update, the prices for these items tanked, with market analytics company Pricempire estimating the losses in the billions. Ethan MacDonald, the company's marketing manager, told Bloomberg that he was stunned by the change.
"This was a complete shock to the community," he said. "This completely changes the supply of Counter-Strike's most sought-after and expensive tier of items."
A huge number of players have been affected by this update. One 20-something trader Bloomberg spoke with had $1 million of digital items in his inventory on Wednesday, but by Thursday, he had lost upwards of $270,000. Chinese players, who Bloomberg noted are some of the game's primary traders, criticized the price shift on the ByteDance-owned, short-form video platform Douyin. This all led MacDonald to believe the "bubble" had burst.
In other Counter-Strike news, a troupe of modders announced a remake of the 1.6 version of the game called Counter-Strike: Legacy. Slated for a release sometime this year via Steam Early Access, it appears that the project has run into some trouble with Valve, with some reports suggesting that it may be shut down.
Source