How CS2's Skin Rentals Are Changing the Market
It might seem crazy to think that it's been almost half a month since the update which allowed us to rent CS2 skins, but it's the reality we live in. So, what's changed?
For those who don't know
The most recent Counter-Strike 2 update introduced a brand-new significant feature: skin renting. For example, instead of buying an AK-47 | Inheritance for over $100, you can simply rent the whole collection for just $2.5. Yes, that's right: you pay $2.5 and get the whole KiloWatt collection (except the knives), but only for a week. After those 7 days the skins will simply disappear from your inventory (in fact, those items will not even be shown in your Steam inventory in the first place, they'll be shown in CS2 only).
What's worth mentioning is that all the skins that you get while renting KiloWatt collection have random float values, meaning you can easily get some crazy collectibles, even though they'll disappear next week and there's no possible way to save/trade them.
Community Reactions
The first change in the CS case system since the 2013 Arms Deal Update has reflected in mixed reactions: some people assumed that this change would make CS2 skins more accesible for the mass audience, while others noted that the new feature might help cheaters avoid punishment.
Market Impact
The introduction of this feature has had a profound effect on the skin market:
ROI Decline: The Return on Investment (ROI) from opening KiloWatt case has dropped from around 90% to around 70%.
Price Doubling: The price of cases has doubled (at some point even quadrupled but then bounced back) as players desperately wanted to try out the new feature.
Skin Value Decrease: The value of individual skins has decreased. For example, AWP | Chrome Cannon has lost around 25% of its value.
Long-Term Implications
The rental feature is seem to be a strategic move by Valve to distance cases from gambling allegations. It is expected to be a common thing for all the future CS2 cases, even though we're 99.9% sure it'll have a total of 0 impact on any of the OG CS:GO cases and collections. The extension of this feature to future operations remains unclear, but even its current influence is pretty huge and undeniable.