"First comes the love for Counter-Strike and competitions, then love for mom and everything else," said Artem Klin about the story of launching the RUNCASE platform for selling cases

In light of the recent developments surrounding the decline of the skins market for Counter-Strike 2, we decided to delve deeper into the topic to understand how businesses operate in this niche. We talked to Artem Klin, CEO of the platform RUNCASE, which specializes in creating cases for "Counter-Strike." We asked him about how his company generates revenue and whether there's any growth.

Alexander Semenov, App2Top: Tell us a bit about yourself: how old are you, where were you born, where did you study?

Artem Klin, RUNCASE: I'm 28 years old, born in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky. I finished 11 years of school, went to college, and simultaneously got involved in online activities: placing ads on VKontakte, trying out arbitrage, and creating small projects. That's when I solidified my desire to work for myself and develop things that people need. I've been into Counter-Strike since the 1.6 days: clubs, skipping classes, local tournaments—this cultivated my desire to create services for players.

What else did you do before creating RUNCASE? Did you have any entrepreneurial experience specifically in the case niche?

Artem: Yes. I worked both in employment and launched case projects myself across various games like Dota, Warface, Counter-Strike, Standoff. I collected insights piece by piece—product, marketing, design/interfaces, economics. At some point, I realized I wanted to handle everything myself, not divide responsibility and money, and fulfill my long-standing goal to become an independent business.

Could you share how and when the idea to create your own platform for selling cases originated?

Artem: It came from my personal routine as a player. We spent a lot of time in Counter-Strike, opening in-game cases, and I was consistently "nauseated" by the experience both five years ago and now: boring flow, inconvenient interfaces, and it wasn't clear what to do with the inventory next.

At the same time, I saw other games (Warface, Standoff, Dota) and understood what user cases exist and what potential Customer Journey Map could be implemented on the product. Hence the idea: not just "another site with cases," but an ecosystem where a player can:

experience the thrill of opening, yet safely and honestly;
enjoy the visuals;
trade items;
see the float/dynamics of prices;
and, if needed, get exactly the items they wanted.

Why did you decide to create a platform for selling cases rather than, say, a skin exchange?

Artem: Because exchanging is just a part of the journey, not the whole journey. A player comes with a clear goal: "get a knife/gloves," "grab a rare weapon without spending hundreds of thousands," etc. It's convenient when in one window you have modes from Counter-Strike 2, social activities, tournaments for both skins and skills in the game itself. We have a marketplace in our roadmap, but the core of the platform is the path to the goal.

What were the very first steps for RUNCASE—where did you start, and how much did you need to invest initially?

Artem: Very simply. One developer was doing the front, back, and devops work bit by bit; we assembled the design ourselves. We brought our first users through promo codes in VK communities—without big budgets. We've never had an investor: just our money and time. We hardly made any money for a long time—it was crucial to build an audience and fine-tune our mechanics. We just took the best from the market that worked and assembled our "alloy"—and that's how RUNCASE was born.

For those unfamiliar with RUNCASE—how does the platform work for the user, and what is its essence?

Artem: We essentially repeat the case mechanism familiar to players but bring it to a "working state." Typically a person buys keys in Counter-Strike 2 and uses them to open cases. We bypassed buying keys and directly gave the option to buy cases with items of varied value.

Yes, the cost of a case is proportional to its contents—no one goes "broke." On top of this, there are upgrade scenarios, season passes with levels and prizes, tournament blocks, leaderboards, and a training map to "warm up" before a match. The idea is simple: not to split between services, but to live it all in one window.

I have to ask, where do the items for the cases come from, and how do they return to the system?

Artem: We work with markets and trusted partners. Most of the checks are automated. If there's a dispute, we manually handle the case: pulling logs of operations, correlating transaction IDs on markets/bots, and providing a clear solution based on the results. The main point: we are open to dialogue, aim to respond quickly and communicate in a way that's easy for users to understand—we keep a "popular" company format.

What is the business model of RUNCASE based on? How does the platform earn revenue?

Artem: It's a service model. Commissions within the platform, PRO options, seasonal passes, and partnership events. Moving forward—marketplace and subscriptions that will combine training, events, and inventory perks into one package.

Where is the team officially located today?

Artem: We are a distributed team—people work from different countries and time zones (currently around seven or eight locations). Geography isn’t as important to us as shared values: a love for Counter-Strike, esports, and a desire to create services for players. We host internal tournaments for Counter-Strike/Dota, invite semi-pros—we simply enjoy it.

You are officially registered in Cyprus. Were you there legally from the start, or did you initially start in Russia?

Artem: We started out locally and very simply. To grow, we needed a clear, safe working mode and a standard tax base—so we went to a safe jurisdiction (Cyprus). We built the product from day one as distributed: processes and team are more important than location on the map.

What major challenges did you face during the first years?

Artem: A competitive market and "how to stand out not just in words." We deliberately moved away from the "logged in-opened-left" format towards cultivating Counter-Strike esports: tournament activities within the game with bloggers, seasonal calendars with daily tasks, a Discord community for all topics. A refined UI/UX, anti-fraud measures, seamless integration with markets, awesome modes—it’s all the result of long and painstaking work.

How quickly did you achieve success?

Artem: Honestly, I don't think we've "arrived" yet. Success is when RUNCASE becomes an international brand with a large active community, where within the ecosystem you can play tournaments and train with Counter-Strike monsters like donk, s1mple, and ZywOo.

We want people to be able to form a party, play a match, and then right there, without leaving the platform, watch a tournament—all in one place.

We're heading towards that and continue to grow steadily.

Okay, let me rephrase. When did RUNCASE begin to experience significant growth? What was the driver?

Artem: The first time I really felt it was when the site came alive: people started returning not just to "open something," but to communicate, argue, and check the leaderboards. That's when it became evident that RUNCASE was forming its own space, not just a "logged in-opened-left" service.

Growth wasn't just from advertising, but from communication. At some point, RUNCASE had not just 10 people, but hundreds: people logged in not just for cases, but for social interaction, which fueled word-of-mouth.

Then three drivers kicked in:

regular activities and leaderboards created a clear cycle of "logged in-participated-returned to beat the result," which boosted retention and session depth;
tournaments with pro teams, tournaments with bloggers, and integrations with opinion leaders were the catalysts for the growth of the active audience on the site;
product improvements—continuous work on case content, modes, and additional mechanisms—we take a lot of inspiration from mobile gaming, which is a treasure trove of magical product solutions!

As a result, the main increase came from two types of organic growth:

the aforementioned word-of-mouth;
classic organic SEO traffic (due to the sharp increase in user quality sessions, and consequently, a rise in domain rating).

The platform has quite a complex framework, with events including progression, leagues, bonuses, and a VIP club. How important are they? How much do they boost your metrics?

Artem: This is our "metronome": regular activities give a reason to log in, tournaments provide a goal, leaderboards give a reason to return and improve the result.

The resulting mix gives a genuinely pleasant aftertaste reflected in metric growth: the user's life span increases, retention grows, which allows us to be more flexible and attract new users with a higher CAC, who more frequently engage on the site.

Can you approximate your current turnover and how many purchases occur each month?

Artem: We don't disclose financial numbers. What I can say: about 300,000 unique users per month. We aim to add 50,000-100,000 per quarter by working on new geos and expanding site functionality, which in turn will lead to a growing base of interested users and our tournament section as well as our own media.

Product-wise, we focus on refining the metrics of reaching anchor actions on the site and their costs, as we've noticed that conversion to the desired action directly impacts all other aspects of work and the overall profitability of the product. What that action is—you might try to guess.

What drives the platform's growth now, and are there factors limiting its growth?

Artem: We're growing through expanding partnerships, engaging with bloggers, and continuous product adjustment to user needs. Constraints include market updates in Counter-Strike 2 (changing the rules of the skins market) and payment restrictions in certain regions. We localize onboarding and payment methods, testing mechanics that are less dependent on market "overheating."

What does the skins and cases market look like today—in what phase is it currently?

Artem: You've caught a very interesting moment: the market is restructuring right before your eyes due to changes in Counter-Strike 2. Within a couple of weeks in mid-October, capitalization dropped from approximately $5.5 billion to around $3.0 billion, then recovered to about $4.7 billion—and this immediately changed player behavior and prices across segments. It’s now easier to "reach" knives and gloves, whereas "red" or "secret" items, conversely, are harder to obtain—shifting the balance of prices. Overall, normalization is happening: like any live market, it adapts to new rules, cooling off overheat, participants adjusting.

I believe the market is long-term. In a few months, it will stabilize at new levels because everyone—players and platforms alike—benefits from stability. Supply and demand will find equilibrium, and we'll live in a new, calmer configuration.

The game development market is high-risk. What can be said about the case and item sales market? Is there room for new players?

Artem: There's room, but entry has become more expensive. You need money, a team, and specific industry knowledge—this market is vastly different from classic game development. We've seen projects with millions in investments that didn't "take off" because they wrongly allocated their budget between product and marketing, didn't understand player behavior. This isn't just about money, but also understanding item economics and user rituals.

What trends do you observe in the market? What do you think will change in the next two to three years?

Artem: The market remains growing, but highly volatile, and sensitive to changes from Valve. Looking at the market, the capitalization of the Counter-Strike 2 skins market in 2025 has already reached historic levels—over $6 billion, which is about three times higher than mid-2023. But an October update, which changed the order, virtually wiped out $2-3 billion from its evaluation down to $3-3.5 billion in just one day, partially recovering to a range of $4.7-5.1 billion within a few weeks.

Additionally, looking at the capitalization dynamics and trading volumes, it's clear that the amount of money is growing. The skins market is now being compared to a separate class of digital assets: professional traders and analysts are working it, and media and services solely dependent on this economy are emerging.

Speaking of a two- to three-year horizon, based on current statistics, I expect not a "steady line," but further growth in the user base (due to the general Counter-Strike 2 audience and interest in digital assets) with periodic sharp movements during major Valve updates—both upward and downward.

Last question: what can we expect from RUNCASE in the future, what are the company's plans?

Artem: Three directions.

Marketplace—to eliminate the need to split between services and fully navigate the path to an item/set.

Esports and its growth—at the forefront. First, the love for Counter-Strike and competitions, then the love for other aspects and everything else.

Plus, we want RUNCASE to be a place where you can enhance your inventory, play with favorite cyber athletes, and simply spend an evening with friends.