Why invest in Boeing and Bitcoin when you can earn a slick $US1,000 ($1,274) from selling a virtual red bandana you got in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds?
You can pick one up in Steam’s Community Market, a hub for users to buy and sell in-game items like weapons for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and skins for Rust characters. Right now, 80% of its most popular items on the front page are from Battlegrounds — namely, shirts, gas masks and crates.
One of the crates people are selling on the market contains the red bandana: the PlayerUnknown’s costume set, a loot crate that some players received earlier this year when they pre-ordered the deluxe edition of the game for $US40 ($51).
Back in March, the PlayerUnknown Bandana — merely a cosmetic item from that pre-order crate — was going for $US20 ($25). That price spiked in July to around $US230 ($293) and then, In September, $US700 ($891), which didn’t deter people from buying a couple dozen of them, according to Steam Marketplace’s data. Yesterday, one sold for $US1,015 ($1,293).
So, a well-timed $US40 ($51) spent has earned some players hundreds more months later, however, it’s most easily spent on other Steam items.
Unlike saving our old Beanie Babies, holding onto digital skins in games is becoming an easy and fast way to make bank — but if a black market or gambling economy emerges, like it did for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Battlegrounds might regret its push for paid cosmetics.
(via Reddit)
Comments
10 responses to “Battlegrounds Players Are Buying A Virtual Bandana For Nearly $1,000”
Battlegrounds gambling is already a thing.
the way PUBG game is going, its going to crash. Hard.
I’ve put in 160 hours since it hit early access, and while I play once or twice a week, I’m looking for other stuff to play pretty regularly now, and most of the guys I was playing with are onto other stuff too.
Personally, while it’s cool we’re getting a new gun every now and again, a new map would be nice (it’s coming, but it’s not in sight yet)
I’m at roughly 470 hours (including test server), not found any other game that can keep me or my mates as interested since CS:go or BFbc2, every round while essentially the same is always different.
I dont see any chance of it slowing down or crashing at any time soon.
Kicking myself for not preordering. Almost did… but thought nah…. Ill save $10.
just curious and unsure, but are people able to clone the item? essentially selling counterfeits.
No
with so many people being able to mod and add their own content, skins and other items to their favourite games, what stops them from being able to do so with this title?
Sounds like game devs really need to get in on the steam market game. Create a unique cosmetic object in their game, sell it through the market. Profit. I mean, it’s shifty, yes. But it takes around 40 game sales to make the same amount of money as selling that one scarf. Is there a rule against devs doing something like that?
I love a player driven economy but this is a little overboard.