Counter-Strike (CS), a combat game developed by Valve, has a unique system where players can trade or sell their weapons and skins obtained by playing the game. Among those skins, some are considered rare collectibles and sell up to $1.5 million in the market.

Obtaining and selling rare skins was one of the core aspects of the game that attracted players. It was like a gold rush. People were playing this game, hoping to be lucky enough to get an expensive, rare skin by pure chance. However, this all changed when Valve released a new update for CS in October of 2025.

The October update for CS has ruined the game’s economy. This update has added a feature in the game where five common skins can be combined into one rare skin. This devalued many of the skins that were on the market since rare skins were no longer truly rare due to being obtainable without being lucky. Most of the rare skins on the market lost 70% of their value after the crash. A market of  $6 billion plummeted by about $2 billion within 24 hours.

This event is being referred to as the “Great Depression” of video games, since the Great Depression lost $1.36 billion, about 85% of the entire economy.

“Honestly, this is like a stock market crash, so I’m just going to buy everything at a low price and sell it back when prices go back up after Valve does something,” said Rain Lazic, a player who has 1,500 hours on the game

Alpine Yee, CS player with 900 hours of play time, says, “My entire inventory is worth less than a toilet paper, I never thought I’d experience Black Tuesday.”

In this devastating market crash, some see an opportunity to aggressively buy while others fall into despair or panic as their inventory of valuables becomes worthless.