Renting skins in CS2 - Counter-Strike 2 Update (May)
Counter-Strike 2 just came with its first big update since February- and boy what an update it was!
We have seen small adjustments to the in-game economy, to the way fire grenades work but more importantly:
You are now able to RENT Counter-Strike 2 skins for 7 days!?
How does this renting skins system work?
What do I have to do to rent skins in Counter-Strike 2?
We will try to make sense of this new update and shine a light on this new, interesting feature.
Read all about renting skins in CS2.
Rentals
In the latest update, Counter-Strike has announced that, if you own a Kilowatt Case with a key, you now have the option to rent the whole Kilowatt collection (Special items not included, so no Kukri or StatTrak) for a week (7 days). It is important to note that you will lose/spend your key to gain the ability to play/equip all of these skins for a week. You can not customise them, this means- no nametags, stickers or trading them away.
You also can not trade these skins up, so do not even think to use them as filler skins.
What we think is a bit odd, but “realistic” is, that all the skins you get for “rent” still have individual floats, wears and pattern IDs. Imagine unboxing an FN 661 Scar Pattern and losing it after a week (there is currently only the Kilowatt case up for the renting option).
There seems to be no way of “returning” or “buying” / “claiming” the skins after the 7-day rent-out period.
If they are lost forever, we shall see in the coming days.
On a sidenote: because of the Valve update restricting the visibility of items in inventories to 10 days, you and others can’t see the items in your Steam inventory and you can not showcase them on your Steam profile.
The whole collection for one week for the price of a single key.
Here are a few skins from the Kilowatt case itself.
As you see, the float, pattern etc. can vary from gun to gun. We think this is quite a bit odd- but then again the whole “rent skins for one week” is quite a weird concept to grasp. What Valve was/is trying to achieve with this update, nobody can say for certain. It is quite fitting that they picked the first CS2 case to try this new change with. For people who do not play as often, or don’t have a high budget, this might be a perfect solution.
People can now easily play with some good skins for the price of one key (Currently 2,35€)
[ RENTALS ]
When players open a Kilowatt case with a key, they will have the option to rent the entire Kilowatt collection (i.e., every weapon in the case, excluding the rare special item) for a week instead of receiving an item from the collection
Equipped rented weapons will be replaced with the stock version of the weapon when the rental period expires
Rented weapons cannot be modified (e.g., via stickers or name tags), traded, or sold on the Steam Community Market
Here is the message you get after the renting period has expired.
Doppler Skins
The Doppler skins have also been struck by the update. The community is not rooting for the new look, as they prefer how they looked pre-update. Gamma Dopplers have undergone the biggest change.
People are saying that normal Dopplers got nerfed a bit, while phase 1 got buffed, and the majority of the community is very vocal about the changes to the Gamma Doppler.
Misc
Vertigo's A-site got a big overhaul and became more open. How it will play time will tell.
The M4A4 is now $3000 instead of the previous price of $3100
The Incendiary Grenade is now $500 instead of the previous price of $600
Conclusion
Thank you for reading this article.
We at GamerPay are a bit torn about this update.
On the one hand, it is cool to test out the skins from new cases/skins that you might buy in the game, but on the other hand “renting” skins could be dangerous for the world of skins and virtual items.
It sets a scary precedent for the future gaming industry if this happens to become popular.
What is YOUR opinion on the new change?
Will you rent out skins? Will you stay far away from that?
Let us know your opinion: write us over at our Discord or write us at Twitter/X!
