S.H.A.D.O.W_Workshop

I’ve had a theory for weeks regarding the Armory Pass update. Many of us are wondering why Valve has only given certain collections the “Last Call” badge and, more importantly, why those collections have carried the badge for over three weeks without being removed. Normally, once a collection receives the Last Call badge, it gets removed within about a week. So why hasn’t Valve done that this time? In the most recent update, we received a major overhaul of the Steam Community Market. Visually, it introduced many changes and now looks much more similar to other well known marketplaces. My theory is that this is intentional, and Valve will continue using this strategy for future collections. Valve wants to keep the supply of skins as high as possible in order to ensure that these collections remain actively tradable on their own Community Market. The issue Valve faces is the Steam Balance cap. Their solution is smart: by keeping collections available for longer after they receive the Last Call badge, the supply increases rapidly. At the same time, the Last Call badge draws more players toward those collections, which further boosts the number of cases being opened. As a result, the supply of skins rises significantly, causing prices to drop quickly across the entire collection.