Just recently, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive had an emergency situation. AWP Doodle Lore, initially available in Revolution Case, was removed from the game and replaced by AWP Duality.
The CS:GO community reacted in two ways: some liked the new one, and others stayed loyal to the original. And a certain number of players were upset that Doodle Lore did not repeat the fate of M4A4 Howl. These expectations were obviously in vain because Valve didn’t want to repeat the experiment, which caused enough damage to the game’s economy. However, not everyone remembers this story of the one and only Contraband assault rifle.
It happened back in 2014. CS.MONEY Blog recalls all the details of the M4A4 Howl scandal, parses its consequences and recalls other similar cases.
By the way, you can easily access the full list of M4A4 skins available at CS.MONEY simply by this link: Buy M4A4 Skins. Every single M4A4 skin, just find what you want and go for it!
Story of M4A4 Howl: what happened?
It all started with a bright assault rifle painted in red and black. Two users, Auzzii and sic, submitted a fascinating concept to the Steam Workshop, and it gained vast popularity. The developers, Valve, also liked the design and decided to add this skin to the Huntsman collection. Even then, M4A4 Howl was a rare weapon, but subsequent events have made it exceptional.
Auzzii wrote the following in the skin’s description: “I wanted to make an interesting illustration, so I created this. It originated from a picture of my dog, it’s kind of taking the ♥♥♥♥ out of him in a way as he’s the complete opisite to the wolf”.
It was soon revealed, however, that this design was not Auzzii’s. CanisAlbus, the original creator of this art, was, let’s say, unpleasantly surprised to find his “Aggression” on the side of a virtual assault rifle. “Great way to ruin my day, thank you for that,” the artist said in his post on DeviantArt.
Contraband skin M4A4 Howl is the most expensive M4A4 in CS:GO
Valve’s reaction was not long in coming. Both co-authors were banned from Steam for life. Sic, who was adapting others’ designs, also lost income from his other skins. Even though he apologized to the original work’s author, and CanisAlbus didn’t hold a grudge against him, Valve cared not.
As for M4A4 Howl and the Howling Dawn sticker (both used the same design by CanisAlbus), Valve’s team changed the skin’s design to clear it of other people’s copyrights and made Howl a Contraband skin. This means the only way to get this skin is to buy it from another player. M4A4 cannot be crafted or obtained as a drop, so the number of skins has become strictly limited.
Naturally, such a decision could not but affect CS:GO’s market economy. If, at the time of release, you could buy M4A4 Howl for $20 (skin’s worst condition), now its price starts at $4000 and skyrockets. The fact that you cannot obtain this skin through a trade-in contract also affects the situation. Because of the higher volatility, as a developer, you will probably earn more money on commission from sales of more numerous and, therefore, cheap skins than from trading rarities. Moreover, Howl trades are now mostly done outside of Steam Marketplace. After analyzing the data from its trading platform, Valve seemed to realize that this decision was not the most optimal and, thus, should not be repeated.
Will there be a second Contraband skin in CS:GO?
Never say never, especially regarding Valve, but the chances are extremely low. After Howl-gate, we’ve had several more cases of copyright infringement. For example, with M4A4 Griffin. The developer changed the gryphon’s design and left the weapon’s status unchanged.
The case of AWP Doodle Lore was perhaps the most difficult. Here, slightly modifying the drawing without damaging the skin concept would be impossible. There was no obvious and immediate solution.
For this reason, people were waiting for the fact that we might have a new Contraband skin. Valve decided to make it easier and changed Doodle Lore into Duality, completely removing the former from the game. By the way, we recommend reading our interview with Madara, the creator of AWP Duality, where he shares what he thinks of the situation:
Of all the cases with borrowed (or stolen?) designs, Doodle Lore was perhaps the closest to becoming contraband. The way Valve solved this issue tells us we shouldn’t wait for the second contraband skin in CS:GO.
By the way, you can easily access the full list of M4A4 skins available at CS.MONEY simply by this link: Buy M4A4 Skins. Every single M4A4 skin, just find what you want and go for it!
