'Out of touch' frame-rate take from Valve engineer has CS2 players enraged

A Valve employee has copped flak from the CS2 community following comments made regarding players’ struggles to maintain a stable and competitive frames-per-second level when playing the Counter-Strike sequel.

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Valve engineer Fletcher Dunn claims “120 fps will provide a better experience” for those struggling with frame rate issues in the Source 2 update via an Oct. 17 tweet, sending gamers from all competitive levels into a headspin. Members of the community sat bewildered at the suggestion of capping their frame rate to such a low bar.

If you put an fps cap at 120, you'd consistently get a really high quality experience! But instead, there is a number on the screen that goes from 500 to 170 (and, yes, it "feels different"), and so there's a "problem."

I just can't bring myself to prioritize that.
— Fletcher Dunn (@ZPostFacto) October 16, 2023

Smooth gameplay has been at the heart of community criticism since the beta arrived earlier this year. With a long list of fixes on the agenda for Valve devs, it seems sub-par frame rates are the least of their concerns, according to Dunn’s series of tweets on the matter.

Dunn acknowledged fluctuating frame rates feel different, but this wasn’t enough to keep the community from firing back at the dev. Players called it “out of touch” and pointed to CS2’s competitive aspect which attempts to harness every frame available, especially when higher refresh rate monitors provide such an edge.

Professional CS2 players like Complexity’s Ricky “floppy” Kemery simply responded by saying “Bruh,” encapsulating how a large portion of the community felt about the idea of a 120fps cap.

this is such an out of touch take, if people are complaining about this its likely because they are playing counter strike, an fps which is very competitive and most professionals use 360hz monitors meaning your "120 fps cap" solution is completely ridiculous
— Kyoser (@Kyozser) October 17, 2023

However, in Dunn’s defense, he’s referring to players experiencing severe frame drops. For those suffering from dramatically inconsistent frame counts, capping it at 120 (or a value significantly lower than the player’s standard build) would be a temporary solution for those not playing at the highest level.

But this has been an issue for months alongside a slew of other gameplay problems and bugs. And as CS2 almost wraps up its first high-profile tournament in Sydney this week, this likely leaves professionals underwhelmed.

Pro players have already questioned if CS2 was ready for competitive play, and while IEM Sydney 2023 has been a relatively smooth experience, there has been the occasional hiccup despite being on LAN.

Whether the community’s response leads to a change in tone from developers is yet to be seen. But, for those hoping to see frame rate issues like this fixed soon, it might be a longer wait than expected.