The ability to create your own skins did not appear in the game right away. In the Arms Deal update, which added weapon customization, there was no such option yet – it was implied that players would only purchase in-game items added by the developers. However, a year after this update, the situation changed: a Workshop appeared in the game, through which community members could add their own content.
How much does Valve pay skinmakers?
The reward that a skinmaker receives if his skin is selected for one of the official cases can be determined in different ways. In most cases, we are talking about a percentage of sales of each case. As a result, the author receives a stable source of income, which can be quite significant if the case becomes popular over time.
But in 2021, Valve offered community members an alternative scheme: in a competition for the “Dreams and Nightmares” case, received a one-time reward. The developers paid each of the ten winners $100 thousand, but the authors refused a percentage of case sales. According to some analysts, such a deal, although attractive at first glance, is not profitable in the long term, since a percentage of sales could bring in that or even a larger amount each year.
Valve prohibits skinmakers from publicly discussing the income they receive. However, according to reports from the company itself, it is known, for example, that in 2014 it paid authors 3 million. At that time, the game had seventy custom skins. Therefore, we can assume that each of them accounted for about 43 thousand, and this was during a period when the game had not yet reached the peak of its popularity. If we assume that the percentage of sales remains the same, it turns out that by 2023 the profitability of the skin will increase significantly.
What affects the income from the skin?
After this experiment, Valve returned to the previous profit calculation scheme, and now successful skin creators can again count on a percentage of sales. Information on how exactly income from skins is calculated is not publicly available. For example, it is unknown whether designers receive "Classified" There are more skins than “Industrial” items. quality, or this factor does not matter.
At the same time, income will obviously be affected by how often the case can drop out. If it is part of an operation and is only available for a limited time, the income from it will be lower. And the greatest profit for authors comes from cases that become part of the active pool.
To turn the creation of skins into a source of income, it will take a lot of time and perseverance. Even the authors of popular skin series, such as Asiimov or Neo-Noir, needed to add a lot of work to the Workshop before the developers noticed them. To increase your chances of success, it's helpful to get involved in the community, keep an eye on what's popular right now, and add new work regularly.
