Valve’s latest update for Dota 2, which was released in the middle of the Epicenter XL tournament caused significant chaos for players who had to adapt to the gameplay changes in a short amount of time. The situation made Valve learn the hard on the importance of timing when it comes to releasing patches, which is why the company has decided to delay updates whenever they coincide with major eSports events. 

Valve announced via Twitter that “for upcoming majors where the Thursday patch would land during the tournament, we will instead be releasing the patch at the end of the event.”

This issue that seemed to be a problem with Valve’s Dota 2 is virtually non-existent in other games featured in e-Sports tournaments. Other titles include tournament modes, which is an older version of the game,  which aims to give eSports players enough time to practice on gameplay changes and prevent interruptions during tournaments as the case with the Epicenter XL tournament. 

However, developers of games that are being used in eSports tournaments are still facing the problem of how they will be able to balance the needs of regular players, who are continuously looking for constant gaming changes and multiple twists in gameplay, and professional players who value consistency to aid with the mastery of their skills.