A weapon skin for 150,000 dollars? A copy of an AK-47 for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with some rare stickers has now gone over the digital counter for this proud sum.
To put this in perspective: On the physical goods market, you can get an expensive sports car, a cheap condominium or own medical practice (Study required).
One user captured the astronomically priced article on Twitter:
link to Twitter content
How does such a price come about?
The inflated price of $160,000 that one buyer was now willing to pay comes only in small part from the skin itself, dubbed the AK-47 Wild Lotus. The skin is very limited and currently costs around $10,000 alone.
The lion’s share of the incredible prize comes from four stickers stuck to the skin. These are holo effect stickers created by the now defunct team Reason Gaming from IEM Katowice 2014, a major eSports event for CS:GO. Each of these stickers is currently trading for around $40,000.
The rest is simple math: Only when the stickers are extremely rare and valuable in the eyes of collectors does the price for the skin sold add up to the value of a multi-year trip around the world. At least in the eyes of the buyer.
opaque market
Many traders on the myriad CS:GO skin trading platforms are less collectors looking for rare skins or players with expensive tastes and more speculators. The prices for the skins are in constant motion, some dealers expect future profits from the investments.
This gray market for digital goods has repeatedly drawn criticism, as scammers sometimes try to swindle money out of the pockets of inexperienced gamblers. In addition, CS:GO is suspected of being able to promote gambling addiction due to the random loot boxes and its own skin market via Steam.
