The goose that lays the golden eggs. Valve earns billions of dollars on Counter-Strike 2
In 2025, the online shooter Counter-Strike 2 brought Valve over $1 billion in revenue and set a record for simultaneous online presence with 1.8 million players. According to blogger ZestyAlt, interest in the series remains high despite the competition.
The main source of profit was weapon cases: players opened more than 400 million pieces, and at a key price of $2.50, this brought in $800 million. Other items in the store could add hundreds of millions.
The Steam Market also plays an important role: Valve takes 15% of each transaction between players. With 754 million items sold, this resulted in approximately $166 million in net profit. The virtual economy of CS2 reached $5.8 billion, although one of the updates collapsed the value by $2 billion.
The results confirm the effectiveness of the strategy Valve: a free game is combined with an active digital economy, providing a stable stream of income from both item sales and trade between players.
