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New Counter-Strike 2 cases are free to open, but keeping skins will cost you – and the FPS community isn’t thrilled: “Valve will literally reinvent the gambling industry before adding a random fun game mode”

Anna Koselke

18 September 2025

“Imagine opening one of these and realizing you have to PAY”

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(Image credit: Valve)

A new Counter-Strike 2 update is upon us, bringing various improvements and the brand-new Genesis Collection – an item series accessible via the Genesis Uplink Terminal, a controversial case system.

Counter-Strike 2 players know the shooter’s case system well – to open an obtained case, you must first separately purchase a key and then use it for a shot at getting the skin you’d like (or whichever one the game throws at you, depending on your luck). It’s a gambling system that has caught its own fair amount of fire in the past, but the Genesis Uplink Terminal takes it all up a notch. With it, you have a chance of not scoring anything at all.
On a Reddit thread covering the new Counter-Strike 2 update, players explain the Genesis Uplink Terminal System. Basically, you get to open or “unseal” the Terminal (like a case) for free. Then, you get five offers to buy a skin from the Genesis Collection – “say a blue for $0.35 or a purple for $7, you can see the wear and pattern and everything.” You can decline each one you don’t like, but you can’t go back to them if you regret your choice.

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New skins (the Genesis collection) from r/GlobalOffensive
You have to keep going to see the next skin, basically, which means you could end up with no skin at all if the final option is out of your price range or not suited to your tastes. Should you decline all five, “the Terminal simply gets deleted and you’re out of luck.” Furthermore, once you unseal a Terminal, it’s got a lifespan of just three days – so you also have to be quick with your choice. It almost feels like a nightmare mashup of an auction and gambling.

Unsurprisingly, the FPS community isn’t exactly thrilled with the new system. As one reply to the update reads, “Valve will literally reinvent the gambling industry before adding a random fun game mode to the game.” Another Reddit thread on the Genesis Collection sees fans sharing similar thoughts, with somebody writing, “Imagine opening one of these and realizing you have to PAY to get the skin.”
Players aren’t too happy about Valve’s prices, either, with some skins going for over $1,500. “Some of the skins are absurdly expensive,” they (understandably) complain. “Definitely don’t care about these skins at all in that case.”
“If I had stayed with Valve, I would have been able to retire by now”: OG Counter-Strike co-creator ‘Gooseman’ “kind of regrets” leaving Valve, says he “made some poor business decisions” but grew as a dev

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Anna Koselke

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Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms’ clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she’s not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she’s probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she’s spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur’s Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you’ll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.

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“If I had stayed with Valve, I would have been able to retire by now”: OG Counter-Strike co-creator ‘Gooseman’ “kind of regrets” leaving Valve, says he “made some poor business decisions” but grew as a dev

With Steam players down over 90%, Splitgate 2 dev un-releases the game, lays off more staff, and plans to shut down OG servers as fans fear another live service death: “We understand it’s our last chance”

Escape from Tarkov dev has outdone itself, telling players to buy the whole game again if they want it on Steam after 9 years leading to 1.0: “There are no excuses”

Mecha Break’s $47 skin packs and gameplay-boosting auction house drag user reviews down to “mixed” even as the shooter’s concurrent player count hits 132k on Steam

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