@SteamInvHelper The Armory Pass will probably be reworked into a fixed-reward system.
But to keep the gambling element alive, I wouldn't be surprised if Valve randomizes trade-up floats.
@ThourCS2 Valve doesn't ban farming bots and cheaters because they're part of its customer base.
What Valve lacks isn't technical capability—it's ethics.
@ThourCS2 Sticker capsules sold because of gambling, not because of team fans.
And the numbers could still get worse.
Sale revenue isn't included yet, and if Valve doesn't run a sale—or if it doesn't sell well—total sales could end up well below 10% of previous Majors.
@AeChronos2@ThourCS2 People aren't refusing to buy stickers because they're too expensive. They're refusing because they're a guaranteed loss.
When a $50 purchase had a chance to become $300, people were happy to buy. If it's almost guaranteed to become $20 instead, most people won't.
@NotPauseNPlay To begin with, there aren't that many CS2 players.
Ninety percent of them are farming bots.
They just disappeared because the Armory Pass stopped turning a profit.
@Ozzny_CS2 The point is, no one wants a Donk sticker that they can’t resell at a profit.
Since Valve won’t admit its mistake, it probably won’t lower the official price either.
And I think the revenue share for each team will hit an all-time low.
@ThourCS2 It’s not that they can’t detect them—it’s just that they don’t want to.
What Valve lacks isn’t technical ability—it’s a sense of ethics.
Even a year after reporting a bot, it remains marked as “reported,” and you can’t even report it again.
@pricempire If things continue this way, CS2 sales will likely drop to one-hundredth of their current level.
A major reason for the high sales was that it was essentially a form of soft gambling.
Most people aren't going to buy skins that cost $1,000.
@Ozzny_CS2 Having a sale would be a betrayal of the people who paid a high fixed price.
People willing to pay $1,000 for a sticker are rarer than those who buy 1,000 capsules, but people willing to pay for a $1,000 sticker that will eventually be discounted by 75% are even rarer.
@ThourCS2 All skins will likely become fixed-price purchases, while float values during trade-ups will probably become randomized.
This would allow them to preserve gambling-like engagement and encourage purchases, while still claiming that the system is not gambling.
@TechsavvyCS The market decline stems from extreme distrust of Valve, but Valve probably won’t do anything about it.
That’s because bot farmers can turn a profit just by buying an Armory Pass and redeeming a Fever Case.
@obfcs2 This theory has a fatal flaw.
A drop in skin prices would lead to a sharp decline in Valve’s direct revenue and likely cause bot farmers—who are only interested in profit—to pull out.
That said, I won’t rule out the possibility that Valve is simply too stupid to understand this.
@cs2news What Valve lacks isn't technology—it's integrity.
If they spent just 1 billion yen out of their 200 billion yen in profits, manual cheater detection would be more than enough.
But since Valve treats cheaters as customers, they probably won't do it.
@Ozzny_CS2 Bots have unlimited time, but players don't.
Leaving bots that anyone can easily spot running wild and just reducing their XP is nothing more than sending a message to bot operators to “make more bots.”
@cs2news If you try playing on the official servers in Deathmatch or Casual modes, you’ll see there are a million farming bots out there.
Since regular players just get headshot over and over, there’s no way they can keep playing.
@LasFar The player count is 1.5 times higher? Haha.
That’s clearly a mistake. While the number of “players” has decreased, the number of “farming bots” has increased more than tenfold.
If you actually try playing in FFA or Casual mode, it’s immediately obvious.
@ThourCS2 Good graphics are just a bonus when it comes to gameplay.
How many players are there who say, “This is a great update,” while getting headshot by cheaters and farming bots?
@SteamInvHelper I play in Japan, but there are always spam bots, and both casual matches and DMs are full of bots and cheaters.
What’s really discouraging is that Valve isn’t even looking at the reports.
I’ve reported thousands of cases, but not a single one has resulted in a ban.