Valve released the Arms Deal Update 10 years ago

Ten years ago, arguably one of the most important and consequential updates to Counter-Strike was released with the Arms Deal Update. The release, which introduced weapon skins to the game for the first time, was a massive event and ushered in a new era of the game that has since created it's own communities dedicated towards the colorful (and pricey) files in the game.

In the update blog post, Valve introduced a multitude of items that a decade later, seem incredibly basic and integral to the game, even so far as misspelling "esports", but we disgress.

The update introduced map-themed skin collections for Nuke, Aztec, Inferno and more. Additionally, the USP-S and M4A1-S were introduced as stock weapons into the game for everyone to equip. The USP-S has become a staple for everyone on their CT-side, while the M4A1-S has had an up-and-down relationship on the competitive side, with many favoring the weapon as of late.

Rare weapon cases were introduced, including the "eSports Weapon Case", which purchasing would "help support the CS:GO Competitive gaming community" as a portion of all sales from the case would be directed to funding prize purses at CS:GO events.

Finally, Stattrak weapons were introduced, letting fans keep track of every kill they get with that particular skin.

You can read the original r/GlobalOffensive post and watch WarOwl cover the update as they were, ten years ago.

Skins have since become a booming industry all on their own, with entire gambling sites, skin trading, and other related entities attached to the game and its newfound currency. We've seen Valve lawyers issue cease and desists via Twitter DMs, Trevor "TmarTn" Martin letting us all know he "found this new site called CSGO Lotto", and even FaZe Banks admitting to bribing government officials to make a CS:GO gambling website in Antigua, all thanks to the update from Valve.

It has been a decade of skins in Counter-Strike and while it has obviously brought in nefarious actors, it's also given life to a game that is one of the most played, most watched, and most loved by a community across the world. With that, you can rewind the clock ten years prior to see how the legendary Ninjas in Pyjamas of Richard "Xizt" Landström, Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund, Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson, Adam "friberg" Friberg, and Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg push the update while visiting Valve's headquarters.

Special thanks to /u/DoctorDollars for the original links to the Reddit post, NIP video, and WarOwl Video