The latest update to Valve’s wildly successful shooter has seen a rework of the “loss bonus” system, changing competitive strategies.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the reskin of an old game that revolutionised esports back in 2012 has recently made a rather large change to one of the staple mechanics of the game by modifying team’s “loss bonus”. For those who don’t follow CS jargon all that much, a loss bonus is the amount of money the losing team receives at the end of a round to try and balance the resource difference between the two sides. Money is a huge resource in Counter-Strike with teams having to carefully choose how to spend their in-game earnings to obtain better weapons. Before the latest update, the losing team could increasingly grow their money pool through losing due to there being no cap, often times resulting in a last-minute comeback. Many fans disagreed with the system saying it punished the winning team for winning.
The latest update, released May 16, will see the loss bonus be capped at a maximum of 5 rounds, essentially cutting off resources after a certain number of losses. This means the losing team will still be able to earn back some revenue to stay in the game without placing the winning team at a detrimental ratio of money. The maximum amount of money earned from a loss bonus will also decrease from $3,400 to $2,900 after the losing team wins a round.
Alongside this substantial competitive change comes a series of quality of life features, such as the inclusion of a “Looking to Play” option for those looking to play competitively with a serious team rather than risking the horrors of random comp teams and a tab entitled CS:GO Events which has been designed in collaboration with HLTV to keep players constantly updated with the Counter Strike competitive scene. Valve has included this feature in a bid to spread awareness of their CS esports and attract a more mainstream audience.
The full patch notes can be found here.
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Last Updated: May 27, 2020
