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"

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.

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