Among all the cases in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive — and there are dozens of them — there are three eSports cases. Today, the CS.MONEY Blog is going to tell you where they came from, where they are now, and whether you can consider the skins from this case a good investment. Here we go.
Support for eSports
In the early 2010s, Valve got involved in crowdfunding. Already at The International 2013, the company offered to increase the tournament’s prize pool by buying a compendium. The idea was a success: the prize money almost doubled. At the same time, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive received its first eSports 2013 Case.
However, instead of sponsoring a single tournament from Valve, as was the case with The International, a portion of the proceeds from the case went to support the CS:GO eSports community. Given the popularity of the cases, there’s no denying that they’ve helped the eSports community quite a bit. Today, however, we’re not counting the community’s money.
On the contrary, the CS.MONEY Blog will now try to find out how profitable an investment in an eSports 2013 Winter Case would have been. The case dropped in December 2013. So we’ll take a look at how much you could have made if you had bought skins from the case a month after the release. Let’s see: how much cash could you have earned on the eSports 2013 Winter Case?
Particulars of the research
There are only 12 skins in the eSports 2013 Winter Case. All of them are blue. In addition, you can get one of the 65 knives. As part of the experiment, we decided to compare prices over time on the Steam Marketplace, using the platform’s price charts. For each skin, we took the prices for the Factory New specimens and compared them at two points: one month after release and today.
Note that finishes from this case sell on a relatively regular basis and in rather large quantities. This means that the info is accurate enough for our purposes. Let’s roll.
M4A4, Deagle & AWP
Let’s start off with the rarest items. The M4A4 X-Ray cost $11 in early January 2014. Presently, this design would cost 10 dollars and 20 cents. Earlier this year, the price was as high as $18 — or even higher. So the M4 would only cause a loss as an investment, and so far, there are no signs of an upcoming price increase.
With the Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption, the situation is much better. A month after the case appeared, the skin cost about $7. Now, the look is extremely rare, its price is jumping to and fro. Let’s take the “average” number: $65. Earlier this year, the finish was priced at about $40. The skin could have been a great investment in 2014 as well as in 2021 — it’s a Deagle, after all.
The fate of the AWP Electric Hive was the same as that of the Desert Eagle. In early 2014, the weapon finish cost about $12. Due to its limited sales, the price fluctuates considerably. But today, on average, it would cost $60 to buy an AWP. Just like the Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption, the AWP Electric Hive showed excellent price growth and proved to be a great investment.
FAMAS, P90 & AK
The FAMAS Afterimage is the last Classified item from this case. Even though skins for the Galil AR and FAMAS are usually much cheaper than M4 and AK-47 finishes, the FAMAS Afterimage has demonstrated good momentum. Since January 2014, it has increased in price from 2.5 dollars to almost 55 bucks apiece. A price increase of 22 times!
The AK-47 Blue Laminate is not only the cheapest of the Laminates, but it also reveals the most deplorable price growth trend. In 2014, it cost about three bucks, and now, it’s not even worth ten bucks. Just imagine: you’d have to keep that skin in your inventory all this time and watch its price go up a buck a year. That’s still some growth, though — not like the M4A4 X-ray.
The eSports 2013 Winter Case has one funny feature. It contains more Classified finishes than Restricted skins. The P90 Blind Spot is the second and last Restricted design from the case. In early 2014, it cost less than a dollar; currently, its price tag doesn’t drop below eight bucks! The price increase is even cooler than that of the AK-47 Blue Laminate.
Skins you can buy for a song
We won’t elaborate on the remaining six skins separately. The prices of them all have increased. We’ve listed the amount of growth as a list:
- Galil AR Blue Titanium: price increased from $1.15 to $1.31
- P250 Steel Disruption: price increased from $1.52 to $1.68
- Nova Ghost Camo: price increased from $1.11 to $1.30
- G3SG1 Azure Zebra: price increased from 87 cents to $1.07
- PP-Bizon Water Sigil: price increased from $1.10 to $1.26
- Five-SeveN Nightshade: price increased from $1.04 to $1.20
In absolute numbers, the growth is extremely modest, with each skin rising in value by about a buck over seven years (by a buck and a half at best). It’s hard to call that a good investment. Sounds more like a nice bonus to find in the cheap category.
How much can you make on an eSports 2013 Winter Case?
If you had bought every skin from the eSports 2013 Winter Case in early 2014 and sold it now, you’d have added $178 to your balance. Not bad at all, enough for one of the budget knives from our selection. However, you don’t have a time machine, which means you can’t pull a stunt like that right now. So let’s try to figure out if the skins in this case are worth investing in this day and age.
No rather than yes. The most expensive skins in the case — the Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption, AWP Electric Hive, and FAMAS Afterimage — are going up in value little by little. And it’s not the fastest growth you could envision. So it’s hard for us to recommend skins from the eSports 2013 Winter Case for investment.
Fortunately, we have a better tip up our sleeve. Just check out our wiki, the «Investments» section in particular. There, you’ll have no problem finding the most exciting weapon finishes to start your career as a super-trader. For example, the Factory New Desert Eagle Emerald Jörmungandr has almost tripled in value over a year. It took the AK-47 Blue Laminate seven years to do that!
