Breaking: Valve drop IEM Cologne Major stickers with massive changes to buying stickers, souvenirs, and the end of capsules in CS2

Valve have finally released stickers, souvenirs, and the other accoutrements expected to come with the upcoming IEM Cologne 2026 Major. To cover our basics, the new stickers look great and they scrape really nicely. But beyond that, there's actually a ton to break down here as Valve have completely overhauled the Major collectable experience with striking changes to how you buy stickers and collectables while also removing capsules.

Dust2.us is going to cover all of these changes tomorrow, but let's get to the basics.

The 2026 Cologne Major Shop

Valve have introduced a new shop for buying stickers that allow players to directly buy any combination of player, team, and quality on demand. According to Valve prices are dynamic based on popularity and you use a new currency called "tokens" to buy the items. These tokens can be refunded while sticker purchases are final, allowing Valve to model supply and demand.

Souvenir-O-Matic

Another interesting change is that Valve have made it so you can convert any item in a souvenir and are now able to directly control what player is on the souvenir. This adds a lot of control to the process and players, although players will need to directly purchase these souvenirs using tokens. We expect this to make Valve a lot of money as players can now rep their favorite teams and players on any weapon, including the ultra-expensive items collectors like.

Goodbye Capsules

Valve have killed off capsules, arguing players weren't particularly fans of them while certain countries have also moved to ban the items alongside cases.

Revenue Changes

Valve have introduced a completely new items revenue scheme to replace the old method of paying orgs via capsule groupings. It's a bit complicated so here's how Valve explains it:

50% of total Major Shop and Major Pass revenue is shared as royalties with the tournament organizer, teams, and players. The chart below shows how that 50% is distributed. Note that for each team position, half of the royalties are shared with the team organization, and the other half is split equally among the five players.

Between now and the grand final, royalties are shared based on the teams' global VRS leading into the event. After the grand final, royalties will be shared based on the final standings.

Read the full news post here.