If we glance in the CS:GO market, it mostly resembles trading stocks market. It is a live market, and also the cost of each and every CS:GO skin and item is dictated by the community. Quite simply, Valve does not put a price tag on anything. Instead, they allow the community get it done.
So, now you ask ,, why are CS:GO skins so expensive?
Well, the city doesn't just randomly decide which skins are expensive and which of them are worthless.
The price of an item can decrease or increase depending on multiple factors such as skin popularity, float, pattern, and supply and demand. However, the factors that mostly dictate the cost of one item are float and pattern.
When we take all things into consideration, in-game components of CS:GO cost by their rarity. The rarer the skin, the higher in value it always is.
In this short article, we will explore the way the most important factors mentioned previously can affect an item’s value.
CS:GO Skin Float
Every CS:GO skin has a float value mounted on it. The CS:GO float value represents the exact wear value of your skin.
- 0 – 0.07 Factory New
- 0.07 – 0.15 Minimal Wear
- 0.15 – 0.38 Field-Tested
- 0.38 – 0.45 Well-Worn
- 0.45 – 1 Battle-Scarred
This being said, we can conclude the lower float value usually results in a higher skin price.
There is really a myth circling round the CS:GO community that skins could be worn out, but it's cap. CS:GO skin float can't be increased or decreased regardless of how long you apply the gun or knife for.
But why is float important? Well, let’s take an example to explain this. If we consider the AK-47 Redline, a Field-Tested version available on the market, we can see that a number of them cost more. Not every Field-Tested Redlines look the same. The Field-Tested ranges from 0.15 to 0.38. The truth is, a Redline with float 0.16 looks similar to Minimal Wear, however it still belongs to the Field-Tested category. So, it's natural it costs a bit more than others with higher float value.
Keep in mind that a Redline with 0.37 float is really as good as Well-Worn even though it is Field-Tested. However, they are also cheaper.
Also, its not all skin has a full range of possible CS:GO item float values. Some skins are only able to exist between certain float values. For instance, the AWP Asiimov only exists between values 0.18 and 1. Quite simply, Minimal Wear and Factory New versions don't exist.
If you wonder how you can begin to see the float worth of your CS:GO items, that can be done while inspecting the gun in-game. You may also check the float worth of every skin on DMarket before buying it.
CS:GO Skin Patterns
Simply put, a pattern is a design of your skin. It's a texture that's put on certain CS:GO skins.
The simplest way to explain how patterns jobs are to imagine a coloured canvas. Once the skin is created, the game randomly places that skin somewhere on the canvas. The skin is painted based on the location on that canvas.
The picture above represents a crimson web pattern. So, when we imagine it is a canvas along with a skin is randomly placed somewhere onto it, your skin will automatically be painted according to the background of their placements. So, skins can be placed up, down, left, or right anywhere on the pattern. That’s precisely why two identical skins may look different.
Of course, the computer program won’t place that skin on the canvas we just imagined. Instead, every skin has a pattern number (seed) from 1 to 999, and its value is owned by your skin upon creation. The sport just chooses and assigns a design number randomly. Therefore, you will find 999 possible locations to place your skin on one imaginary canvas.
It is essential to understand that does not all patterns affect skin value. A number of them affect the price in certain proportions, while some of these could make your skin so rare the price skyrockets to a few thousands of dollars. The perfect example for this is a Case Hardened pattern.
Case Hardened Pattern
This pattern consists of blue and gold colors. Blue is rarer, so the bluer your skin is, the rarer it is.
- < 10% Blue or Full Gold – Mid (Low Price)
- 20% – 30% Blue – Common
- 30% – 40% Blue (on Tip) – Mid Rare
- 40% – 50% Blue – Mid-Rare
- > 60% Blue – Rare (Expensive)
- 100% Blue (on Both Sides) – Blue Gem (Priciest)
The blue gem will always are more expensive because it is an uncommon collector’s item. When opening a container box, you have only a 0.26% possibility of unboxing a knife. That is what makes knives rare and dear. In addition to that, despite the fact that some luck and unboxed a knife with a Case Hardened pattern, the chances of it being a Blue Gem are less than 1%; this will depend around the kind of knife.
For example, an instance Hardened Butterfly has only six Blue Gem variations (that makes it 0.6% on probability to get one).
– Seed 39 – Blue Gem
– Seed 182 – Blue Gem
– Seed 371 Blue Gem (85%-90% with Blue Middle)
– Seed 396 Blue Gem (95% with Scattered Purple & Blue)
– Seed 494 (90% Blue)
– Seed 510 Blue Gem (Best and Most Expensive One)
When it comes to the AK47, it's impossible to get a 100% blue. Therefore, there isn't any real Blue Gem variation of the skin.
The most expensive knife in CS:GO could well be the situation Hardened Karambit Blue Gem having a 387 seed number. This item was supposedly traded for $100,000 back in 2022, and it is now estimated to be worth around $800,000.
Doppler Pattern
The Chroma Case collection brought us a new pattern Doppler. This pattern differs from previous ones. Every seed in this pattern corresponds to a particular type. A Doppler can be:
– am_phase 1 / 2
– am_phase 3 / 4
– Ruby
– Sapphire
– Black Pearl
For example, a Karambit Black Pearl will be a consequence of only 40 seeds in total. That means there is only 0.4% chance to obtain a Black Pearl variation of the knife skin.
There are more CS:GO patterns, plus they all work the same way. The rarer the pattern, the more expensive the skin is. Hopefully this answers your question as to why some CS:GO skins are more expensive and how pattern and float affect them!
