Continuing with the Rust examples, skins are only available to purchase officially from Rust for one week. However, the skin economy is quite interesting from both a supply and demand viewpoint. Rust Workshop page for a rocket launcher skin by player |HypershoT| Other games use chests players can obtain for free by playing the game, but need to purchase a key for real life money (usually $2.50) in order to open the chest and get the skin inside. When players buy a skin, a portion goes to the skin’s creator, another slice to Rust, and a bit to Steam.

For example, the developers from a game called Rust will pick a handful of Workshop skins per week and sell them on Steam for a limited time for real life money, usually $2 – 5 per skin. However, this process is usually done using real money one way or another. This can be done through Steam or various other means specific to a game (such as players getting special chests to unlock). Some games will take player made skins from the workshop and introduce them to the official game. Skins do not change the item/gun/armor in any way aside from its visual appearance in game.

Steam sell multiple items at once