A CS:GO enthusiast in China just spent a whopping $160,000 USD on a weapon skin, which is creating quite a buzz in the online gaming community. This incredible transaction took place on the Buff marketplace, a platform for Steam game goods traders. It’s important to note that NFTs and their integration into games have been losing popularity, and we hope this high-profile sale doesn’t encourage the gaming industry to exploit digital goods for profit.
If you’re curious, the AK-47 Wild Lotus skin can be seen in the image above. It’s worth mentioning that CS:GO skins come with a unique float number that indicates how new the weapon is. This particular skin has an impressively low value of 0.00597 (rounded), which makes it “factory new” and highly coveted. Skins with higher float values, on the other hand, may be considered “battle scarred” and are generally less desirable.
Typically, the assault rifle skin goes for a high five-figure price tag in excellent condition. However, this particular skin stands out from the rest as it boasts four rare stickers from the Reason eSports team. These stickers are supposedly in high demand and feature unique holographic designs that were exclusively given out at the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice back in 2014.
Despite the emphasis on rarity mentioned earlier, it’s difficult for many of us to get enthusiastic about in-game skins that aren’t earned through personal achievements and cannot be transferred to other players. Recently, a Twitter user in the gaming community drew attention to the sale of an expensive skin on a Chinese marketplace and asked their followers whether the price was reasonable. While some were astonished and confused, several people chimed in to say that the price was justifiable, if not incredibly appealing. Once again, the discussion revolved around the skin’s quality levels and the set of four Reason team stickers, which are highly sought-after.
According to Kotaku, transactions like the $160,000 skin sale mentioned earlier exceed the price ceiling set by Valve, so they have to take place on third-party marketplaces. If you thought that trade was impressive, the article mentions that a CS:GO player declined a $1.3 million cash offer for their “Blue Gem” skin last year because it was too low.
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