A Counter-Strike AK-47 skin and knife have sold for a combined $500,000 USD

A Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) player has sold a "Case Hardened" skin for the AK-47, alongside a Case Hardened "Blue Gem" Karambit knife, for a whopping half a million dollars.

The details:

• ZipeL, a CS:GO skin trader, announced on Twitter on April 16 that he had arranged the sale of the skins on behalf of fellow trader Luksusbums, claiming that the knife and AK-47 skin sold for a total of $500,000. The majority of the deal was made up of the AK-47 skin, which was valued at $400,000, making it the most expensive gun skin in the game's history.
• The skin's high price is due to a combination of factors, including the fact that it has pattern number 661, which causes the majority of the gun to be covered in a blue tint, and it's also a StatTrak model in minimal wear condition, which is currently the highest condition of this exact skin as a factory-new version does not yet exist. Despite this, the skin was only worth $150,000 before the four Titan Holo stickers from the Katowice 2014 major were applied to it, which are the most expensive in the game, each costing around $60,000.
• A Case Hardened Karambit knife was also traded alongside the AK-47 skin, which is famous for being the most valuable item in the game if it has the correct randomly generated values, with an estimated value of at least $1.5 million due to its "Blue Gem" pattern number 387, which causes a similar effect to the aforementioned AK-47 skin by covering the entire blade in blue. The reason for the much lower price this time is due to the fact it is well-worn, a much worse condition than the insanely expensive factory-new knife.
• Despite the astronomical price, it may not be the most expensive transaction in CS history, with an unconfirmed sale of a minimal wear StatTrak AK-47 Case Hardened and a factory-new Souvenir AWP Dragon Lore reportedly selling for $775,000 in 2021, both skins including the four Titan Holo stickers.

Why are Counter-Strike skins valued so highly?

• With the upcoming full release of Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) in the summer of 2023, CS:GO has seen a surge in the number of skins purchased and sold through Steam's community marketplace, increasing both the value of items and the number of cases opened by players attempting to obtain some of the most sought-after skins to either sell or use in the new title. Players set a new record recently, spending $98.7 Million on cases within March 2023, which could be broken as we get closer to CS2.
• Skins and knives have a history of insane value even before the announcement of CS2, with an entire online economy being built around them due to the case unboxing system, which allows a player to obtain a rare item assigned with certain values to increase or decrease its value, such as its pattern and wear. Some are looking for specific skins to use in-game, while others are simply looking to trade or collect, with the new owner of the skins above reportedly being a Chinese collector who owns a legendary Souvenir AWP Dragon Lore worth over $100,000.