Valve benefits from any panic trading in the short term with every sale on the Steam Market. carrier 5 percent “Steam Transaction Fee” on top of 10 percent “Counter-Strike 2 a fee… which is determined and collected by the game publisher” (read: Valve). In the long term, however, making it easier to obtain some of the rarest items in the game will likely lead to lower overall costs among the whales that dominate the market.
Wild CS2 update tonight. I've spent the last few hours studying market data and created this projection chart to show how I think things will play out.
Knives and gloves are quickly dropping in price (40-50%) as the new trade route floods supply, while Mystery Skins briefly surge like everything… pic.twitter.com/8NOMIBPZ1F
— SAC (@SAC_IG) October 23, 2025
Using market data, owner of esports team Irish Guys SAC made some predictions Over the next few months, it is estimated that “the market as a whole will stabilize at about 5-10% lower; this is not a crash, just a correction.” But there is also more bullish and bearish opportunitiesdepending on how overall commodity demand and market liquidity develop in the near future.
CSFloat market tracker also crunched some numbers to determine that the total supply of knives and gloves could roughly double if all common items were sold as part of the new update. In practice, however, the increase in supply is likely to be “much smaller.”
Major monetary changes aside, the latest update appears to be designed to make life easier for new CS2 players will be able to access some once-rare in-game items without spending any money. “I got a little burned [by the update]… but honestly, this is the path to the long-term health of the game.” – Redditor chbotong wrote. “[It’s] gave me faith that Valve is actually moving in a direction that favors the average player rather than the market whale.”
