CS:GO patch notes 4th February 2021: Short-handed income and timeout changes

Valve released a new CS:GO update in the at around 03:00 GMT on 4th February 2021, making changes to the Short-Handed income mechanic introduced back in January. The developer also made some changes to timeouts for Broken Fang Premier matches. We've got you covered with the full CS:GO patch notes for 4th February.

CS:GO Short-Handed income changes

With the RMR 2020 Sticker Capsule update released on 28th January, Valve added a brand-new mechanic to CS:GO. 

It is called Short-Handed income. The mechanic only worked if a team had fewer players than their opponents for three or more consecutive rounds in a half, which then gave team members $1,000 each as Short-Handed Loser income following a round loss.

(Picture: Valve)

With the CS:GO 4th February update, Valve has changed this mechanic slightly, giving the Short-Handed income after every round, regardless of it being a win or a loss for the team with fewer players.

This bonus still does not apply when a player is kicked.

Broken Fang Premier timeout changes

With the previous CS:GO update, Valve implemented automatic timeouts when someone disconnected. 

To accommodate for these automatic Technical Pauses, the developer has now changed the number of Tactical Timeouts, testing it out in the Broken Fang Premier queue.

(Picture: Valve)

Tactical Timeouts in the latest CS:GO update are now limited to two, one-minute affairs. This is a nice change from four, 30-second timeouts, which means matches should have fewer pauses overall where you just need to sit around counting chickens.

CS:GO 4th February patch notes

The TLDR version of the CS:GO 4th February 2021 patch notes, as per the official post from Valve, can be viewed below.

• Short-handed income is now given after every round regardless of a win or loss.
• Broken Fang Premier team timeouts have changed from 4x half-minute timeouts to 2x one-minute timeouts.

While this isn't a massive update, Valve continues to improve the competitive experience with these changes.