M4A4 Howl sells for $215K, here’s why that’s not enough

The M4A4 | Howl is one of the most iconic skins in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and while $215,000 may seem like a ton of money, it’s not even close to full value.

With Counter-Strike 2 on the horizon, it seems like there’s a new massive skin deal happening every week. Last time it was a $500,000 deal on a blue gem combo, and before that, it was a juicer AK-47 | Wild Lotus. Now it’s time for the CT rifle to shine, as an M4A4 | Howl has reportedly sold for $215,000 in a private deal.

The deal started with a public auction hosted by CSGO skin high-roller zipel, who showed off the 4x iBP Katowice Holo Howl on his Twitter. He appeared to be hosting the deal on behalf of Luksusbum, who was involved with both of the massive deals mentioned above. The three-day auction started with no reserve and appears to have ended with a final price of $215,000. It was sold to Maltese skin collector Bidule, who claimed ownership on April 26, 2023.

The skin itself is a factory-new StatTrak™ M4A4 | Howl. The Howl is the only contraband-rarity skin in the game due to a copyright dispute, and Valve has made it clear that it won’t be adding any more. It’s already worth a lot, but a previous owner applied four iBuyPower Katowice 2014 Holo stickers to it, massively increasing its value. An unapplied one is currently valued at just under $60,000.

$215,000 was a fire sale price for this M4A4 | Howl

$215,000 puts this deal in the absolute highest tier of CSGO skin trades, but the sad truth is that this Howl probably could have sold for a lot more.

Recent sales for factory new StatTrak™ Howls value the skin between $20,000 and $30,000, depending on cleanliness. The cheapest one is currently up on DMarket for $20,500. However, the real value comes from the stickers. The full set of iBuyPower Katowice 2014 Holos would cost $240,000 today, and while applying them loses value, the full set should keep a larger share of it.

The lower price comes down to the method used to sell it. zipel announced a three-day auction period for the skin with a harsh close time, meaning any interested parties had basically no time to prepare liquidity. If it was sold through normal means, Jake Lucky estimates that it could have sold for $250,000. There’s always a chance that a bidding war drives the price even higher, but it seems like poor Luksusbum will only take home $215,000 for his juicer Howl.