Good riddance to function keys. They're slowly being pushed out of reach on many computers but my fairly new PC laptop still has sysrq and break keys. That's pretty objectionable.
I can see some uses for contextual keys, but I can also imagine some pretty annoying inconveniences with this implementation. For example, if I'm in an application that 'takes over' the function keys, is it possible to still access media playback controls? Do I have to switch to whichever app is currently playing audio to access them? Is it possible to disable the contextual keys altogether and have a static, traditional set? Or is there a hotkey to toggle between app-specific and 'global' function keys?
Sure, you can configure the touchbar, but have you tried working/playing while having to look down at a keyboard?
Not sure why you need function keys to play it though.