Frame rate and optimization issues currently leave CS2 anything but playable on Steam Deck, but it appears that Valve is working quickly to fix things.
It's not a standard xbox controller. There's a gyro with several ways to handle it, including flick, which does take a little time to get used to, but works really well as a mouse substitution for such an environment. Some people are just that good with a thumbstick as well and can easily enjoy casual gamemodes.
Steam Deck is a capable beast, even for a game like Counter-Strike.
The same was said about the steam controller, but in the end it was still shit compared to a mouse. It's just not feasible in a game as competitive as csgo.
It's not for everyone, but calling it shit just because it doesn't work easily for your liking is
a bit much since it's still usable to some. I beat plethora of shooters on gyro and it wasn't that much harder than playing on mouse once I got used to it.
CS:GO is dead, though, and neither of the popular and beloved entries to the series was ever solely focused on the competitive scene - the community and the casual fun also matter in the world of Counter-Strike, and that's one of its parts that can be enjoyed on a controller just fine. Of course I don't expect to be able to perform just as well or better than the M+K players when playing on a controller, regardless of its gyro capabilities, especially in the competitive modes. Counter-Strike is just much more than just a competitive game.
At its core, CS is a competitive shooter. Having casual maps and modes is fun but the game should not cater to this play mode. If valve tries to make it casual friendly they will disappoint the competitive players and will not be able to compete with other casual shooters.
Basically I don't want then to cater too much to the casual scene
CSGO was made entirely for the purpose of being a console game, no body played it on console so they abandoned it
You are perfectly capable of setting on the couch at any time. The computer does not stop this. You are actively making the decision to not sit on a couch, as an adult you're allowed to do this.
Small adjustments from rotating a controller will never be nearly as precise as moving a mouse.
Fast flicking wide turns is going to be far too slow even at the fastest joystick speed, which would screw up aiming in other ways as well
Strafing would be very limited even if you somehow overcame all those issues and were magically a human robot. Your controller can only rotate so much to track the player over a distance.
Joystick movement is simply never as precise as mouse, including with gyro that has a separate slow speed to try and be accurate as possible. Which doing that then means you can't strafe or quick turn.
Mouse can do it all with significantly less effort, and with a much higher skill ceiling. Which that is what matters if you're in competitive play. If you're not trying to be competitive, then fuck it, use whatever is fun.
Of course, I don't doubt that. But someone with say 500 hours in csgo playing with keyboard mouse will absolutely destroy someone with 500 hours playing with sticks/gyro. But honestly I can't think of a single streamer or pro that doesn't use keyboard mouse