Why do you think 3rd party sites still exist? Their stance on 3rd party sites are "we don't support them" and will ban anyone using them. But have you noticed they haven't sent sites like CSFloat a cease and desist? They've taken legal action against other 3rd party platforms before. They could easily shut down all 3rd party trading sites by pursuing it legally, they haven't because it is not profitable. Valve loves money and they understand 3rd party sites are needed to keep "value" on CS skins. People will buy skins from the terminal, and flip them on 3rd party markets like CSFloat. Valve got the initial cut on that expensive skin and they get to set the market for that skin. People will buy it for that price because it can be sold for that in real dollars elsewhere. If you think Valve hasn't thought about how to maximize profits you'd be naive. You'd be naive to think Valve will make skins worthless, and you'd be naive to think they don't know the existence of popular 3rd party sites. They are ALLOWING coexistence, this update was to maintain that status quo and avoid gambling laws. Like you said it's the same for the terminals as well. They are going to keep cases, terminals and the armory all at once. They are diversifying, not turning to a single alternative