Market for ‘Counter-Strike’ Items Falls $1.75 Billion Overnight

The market for digital items in the popular video-game Counter—Strike fell 25% overnight, following an update by the title’s developer Valve Corp.

Over the past year, investors wary of the volatility in the S&P 500 and cryptocurrency markets have snapped up the video-game items at a record rate.

The price of Counter-Strike items, ranging from digital guns and knives to gloves, can fluctuate depending on a number of factors, including scarcity, player engagement and changes pushed by the game’s developer. In 2024, one virtual gun sold for over $1 million.

At 7 p.m. in New York on Wednesday, an update from Valve shifted the exchange rate between various categories of items, such as knives and gloves. Afterward, prices plummeted, erasing roughly $1.75 billion in value, according to data from Pricempire, an analytics company that tracks the market.

“This was a complete shock to the community,” said Ethan MacDonald, marketing manager for Pricempire. “This completely changes the supply of Counter-Strike’s most sought-after and expensive tier of items.”

Counter-Strike traders are primarily young gamers. Oscar Stapleton, a 20-year-old in London, had $1 million worth of digital items in his inventory Wednesday night. He lost $270,000 in less than 24 hours, he said. “I’ve had a good past few months,” he said. “This is a shock.”

In China, where a lot of Counter-Strike trading activity takes place, myriad videos bemoaning the downturn circulated on social media.

Valve runs a marketplace for Counter-Strike items, but most of the trading activity takes place through unofficial channels. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Many investors, traders and players have been selling off a lot of items out of fear that the ‘bubble’ has finally popped,” MacDonald said.