[News] Valve changes Steam policies to protect Counter-Strike 2 and end a problem that started 10 years ago: No more gambling with skins

[#Steeven.™]

The rise of bets on cosmetics in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has made Valve react.

Counter-Strike skins can reach stratospheric prices. Over the past few weeks, with the rise in po[CENSORED]rity of the shooter, we have come to see how some cosmetics were sold at prices close to half a million euros. However, this is not exactly new. Since the release of Global Offensive, there have been certain skins that have sold at a very high price. We are talking about that amount of money that always ends up causing problems. It is a very lucrative market that many users have tried to take advantage of and that has forced changes in Valve's policies. The company had to carry out large updates to Steam to control the situation. The last one, this week.

 

A fight that Valve started almost ten years ago
Shortly after the launch of Global Offensive, online casinos and sports betting sites specialized in handling Counter-Strike skins as a payment currency began to emerge. These same pages used to be supplemented by other websites where players could open crates. The business model was very simple: the first domain collected the skins that users lost when participating in casino games and the second put them up for sale through a random rewards system that was slightly more generous than the official 'lootboxes'. from Valve, albeit still with a wide profit margin.
In addition to being an obvious ethical conflict, the situation had negative consequences for both Valve and the community. Many content creators specializing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive began to focus all their videos or direct on the use of these web pages. There were also scams, betting scandals in the competitive and the price of the skins increased. The image of CS:GO got worse and the developers weren't even making money from it, which motivated the first changes. The most important adjustments were certain restrictions on exchanges so that these pages would find it more difficult to trade.

Some eight years after this big 'boom' in the betting and box opening pages, Valve has decided to modify the Steam terms of service to avoid similar problems arising in the last days of Global Offensive or the birth of Counter-Strike 2. The "Engage in Commercial Activities" clause in the Steam Rules of Conduct now includes gambling. In this sense, the developer reserves the right to ban any player who participates in third-party websites that use tactical shooter cosmetics as currency. This also applies to all games in the platform's catalog.

 

Root out gambling in Counter-Strike
It is unthinkable that Valve could ban all users who participate in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive outside betting sites. However, from the developer they have taken an intelligent measure. With this new regulation, the developer can instantly ban any content creator who broadcasts live or uploads videos from these types of pages. Thus, they nip its diffusion in the bud. Considering that CS2 is just around the corner and that it promises to be one of the games of the summer, they were necessary changes if they didn't want to repeat the unpleasant situation they experienced in the mid-2010s.
Valve has a very particular ban policy. It is not as easy as on other platforms to end up being punished by the developers. However, when you receive a ban on Steam or one of the games created by this developer (that use VAC) your account can be restricted for life. Among the punishments is the possibility of losing access to all games on the platform, blocking cosmetic exchanges or when using certain platform tools. It is not something minor considering that it is still the most used platform on PC.

 

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