Why Some Games Get FPS Caps Added or Removed

What FPS Caps Mean in Modern Games

The FPS cap is basically a limit set for the maximum number of instructions processed by a GPU. This technique is done to avoid overheating and many other problems caused by overclocking. Actually, when the system has the capacity to process a limited number of instructions at a time, then the games send more than their capabilities. At this point, it destroys the health of the GPU, which leads to increasing temperature and creates an overheating problem. If it is not controlled, then it can lead to a blast.

Developers add these caps to control the performance and behavior of hardware, software, and other components to avoid any type of physical damage. Basically, when these games are launched, their FPS is capped on 30, 60, 90 or 120 depending upon the situation, your system specs and the type of a game. These are capped to avoid any kind of mishap, avoid bugs and prevent any kind of instability and ETC. If the frame rates are capped, it helps a system to sort out the AI behavior, physics, mapping, costumes, and etc simultaneously and in a synchronized way.

And especially on the consoles where hardware is fixed, this thing is very much important because it plays a vital role to avoid the overheating and other problems like screen lagging, screen tearing, and FPS drop, etc. But whenever a player upgrades its hardware, or for sometimes a software, the demand of the customer is to get a smoother gameplay. Then these capped FPS like 30, 60, 120 or whatever, become a main logic, a main reason, and a controversial reason behind the unexpectedly worst gameplay. Actually understanding what is the FPS capping usually helps the users to decide that if they initiated a launch, then should they keep going on with it or simply remove it.

Why Developers Add FPS Caps Before a Game Launch

As the game is launched, developers focus on creating its space in the user’s device as well as mind. They actually want the worth first of all. That’s why they prefer stability over performance. If they will focus on performance, they will require more resources and may-be because of this mid-spec systems users uninstall that game, and even for the low-spec system will also do the same. For this reason, the developers first of all focus on stability, that’s why they cap the FPS. During the development, the games are capped at a certain FPS that can be a 30, 60, 120, or whatever. This is basically a precautionary measure to ensure a healthy system without any kind of a physical damage.

Capped FPS ensure a consistent gameplay across a wide range of systems. The term wide range of system means that it will cover up almost 70% to 90% of the systems. The remaining other 10% are the exceptional cases. If the FPS is uncapped, it has the power to break the physical engines of the game and it can make timing issues, lagging, crashes, weaker hardware, heating up, and many other problems. So this is a precautionary measure and it is very beneficial for the new games. During a gameplay, it is easy to test any internal bug and that bug can be fixed very easily by the developers if the FPS is low. But if the FPS will be high, it will be unable to detect the main reason behind that.

Common Reasons FPS Caps Get Added or Removed After Launch

• Fixing physics or animation bugs tied to frame rate

• Preventing crashes on low-end hardware

• Meeting console certification requirements

• Simplifying performance testing before release

• Responding to PC player complaints

• Supporting high refresh rate monitors

• Reducing input lag in competitive modes

• Improving power efficiency and thermals

It is possible that we will consider our heating, screen lagging, screen tearing and other problems as a primary issue, but they will not be the main reason behind it. If we talk about the consoles, they are capped to meet the requirements because consoles are designed in such a way that their users cannot easily upgrade it or like cannot make any changes in the hardware by themselves. So for this reason, it is capped at first to meet the platform requirements. Almost all of the games are capped, but they are capped in such a way that studios where the game is launched are preferred to choose whether they will go with safe cap or will go with the risk performance related backlash.

Competitive and Esports Pressure to Remove FPS Caps

As we know, for the newly launched game, the FPS is capped by the developers to ensure the stability over thee performance. But for the eSports and competitive battleground games, this capping of the FPS is totally considered to be a lame excuse. Basically, they want the performance, and because of it, they are saying this. Somehow they are also right. They have powerful system and they want that game to be run at its maximum to test its credibility, its abilities, capabilities, and to decide whether they want to go with it or just take another option. But higher frame rates reduce the input latency and usually they improve the visual quality.

But the reason why the games are capped is that at the same time they put pressure on the GPU and the CPU. Because of this workload, the mid-range and a low spec system often doesn’t prefer this. As we know that for every game, 70% of their customers are having mid-range or low spec systems. And that’s why they are capping to save their 70% users. Because of this 70%, the 30% remaining high spec system users often face a backlash. Developers usually focus on the stability, but when there is so much backlash by the big-big firms, companies, esports, and other tournament championship game holders, then they often remove this FPS cap. Games or softwares that are initially developed for the audience that are having mid-range or low-spec systems are preferred and their response matters a lot.

Final Verdict

According to my experience, Capped FPS is good for the mid-range and low-specs systems but FPS capped games often face a backlash by the competitive players.