The multibillion-dollar market for cosmetic items in the popular esports first-person shooter game Counter-Strike 2 crashed following an update to its mechanics.
According to an Oct. 8 report by Esports News, the Counter-Strike 2 skin market at the time reached a new high of nearly $5.78 billion. A separate Thursday report by Eurogamer said that almost $2 billion of this market was liquidated following a recent game update.
The game’s producer, Valve, has changed the trade-up system so that players can now convert five low-rarity (covert level) skins into a knife or a pair of gloves, which were previously exceedingly rare. That instantly increased the supply of knives and gloves, driving down their prices, while the value of the skins spiked amid newfound demand.
A change by a video game company that led to consequences felt by vast ranks of players is one of the reasons cited by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin as an inspiration for creating the blockchain.
He explained that he used to play World of Warcraft from 2007 until 2010, until the company behind the game “removed the damage component from my beloved warlock’s Siphon Life spell.” “I cried myself to sleep, and on that day I realized what horrors centralized services can bring. I soon decided to quit,“ Buterin said at the time.
Six-month chart for the price of Counter-Strike 2 cosmetic item Sport Gloves Vice. Source: Price Empire
Related: Stablecoins quietly become gaming’s hidden engine: BGA report
Blockchain offers an alternative
While blockchain and non-fungible tokens see widespread opposition from the gaming community, they may offer potential solutions to issues such as this one. NFTs, most associated with tradeable digital art, can and are used for any digital goods, such as video game items.
By implementing a smart contract-based digital item using NFTs, it is possible to provide assurances about what the issuer can and cannot do. Smart contracts can set a limit on the number of NFTs in a series that can be issued, or set permanent rules…
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