Contraband skins are a separate rarity category that Valve assigns to items pulled from drops over copyright violations. Only one weapon skin belongs to it: the M4A4 | Howl, which has not dropped from cases since 2014 and can only be obtained by trading or buying from other players. It now costs from about $4,150 in Field-Tested to about $7,250 in Factory New, with StatTrak Factory New around $15,500. Below is how the category came about and why Valve is unlikely to expand it.
The Revolution Case is what brought the story back: in February 2023 one of its skins, the AWP Doodle Lore, was replaced because the rights to the drawing in its design did not belong to the skin's author. This was not the first such case in the game's history, and once a similar situation led to a whole new skin category. For how rarity tiers work in general, see our article on how Valve determines skin rarity.
What happened to M4A4 Howl
In 2014, a skin for M4A4 called Howl was added to the game, credited to two community members, Auzzii and sic. They had first uploaded it to the Steam Workshop, where the developers picked it up. In the item description, Auzzii mentioned that the source for the illustration was an image of his own dog. However, it later turned out that there was not a word of truth in this note: in fact, the author of the drawing was an artist named CanisAnubis, for whom it was an unpleasant surprise to find his work on the body of a virtual rifle.
After the artist contacted Valve and the story went public, Valve responded quickly. Both creators of the Howl were banned, and sic also lost income from the other skins he had made earlier. In addition, Valve changed the design of the skin, replacing the borrowed design, and transferred it to the "Contraband" category. This means that the skin never drops, there are no new copies, and it can only be obtained through a trade with another player. It is no surprise that the price of the M4A4 Howl has multiplied: today it is one of the priciest rifle skins and a regular in lists of the most expensive skins in CS2. Besides the rifle, the Howling Dawn sticker with the same artwork is also Contraband and costs about $1,350. For more on the skin itself and how to get one, read our M4A4 Howl guide.
The problem with AWP Doodle Lore
When reports appeared after the Revolution Case release that the AWP Doodle Lore design had also been taken from another artist, many players expected Valve to add it to the Contraband list. That did not happen, and there may be several reasons for it:
The developers could have decided that the incident with the M4A4 Howl ultimately hurt the game's economy. Most Howl deals take place outside the official Steam Market, which does not benefit the developers.
A healthy market depends more on a large number of trades in low and mid-priced skins than on rare purchases of unique items.
Unlike the Howl, the Doodle Lore design would have been much harder to change while keeping its main idea.
In the end, Valve simply replaced the skin with the AWP | Duality, although not every player liked that decision. The rest of the case is covered in our list of the most interesting Revolution Case skins. Even if a similar situation comes up in a future case, do not expect the Contraband list in CS2 to grow: most likely, Valve will decide each time based on the specific circumstances.
