I've played a thousand hours of CSGO, and I'm sure several thousand more hours of Halo.

Where the footsteps are coming from is super obvious in literally any headset or IEM/earbud. That's why people crouch, because you're either stomping around, or you're silent - there is no nuance or in-between.

Good directionality comes from the engine, first and foremost.

And in no game are there, like, octagonal intersections? - it's almost always normal cardinal directions. That's how maps are setup. Nobody is using pinpoint accuracy to know that a person is 36 degrees to their left, rather than 38 degrees.

99.999999% of competitive shooters in gamesense, prefiring at headshot level, and strategy/effective teamwork and use of in-game skills and items. You actually have to be pro, or incredibly try-hard, for hyper-accuracy in sound directionality to matter even a little bit.

I guarantee you, pros could be out there smoking folks with no sound at all. It's a big part of the game. Not that big, though.

You really think people are out there playing truly competitively in noise-controlled rooms, with high end headphones, rather than some Razer sponsored garbage?

Really?