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Valve Shares Steam Deck FPS Data to Improve Game Performance
Confirmed
In Short: Valve’s initiative to share frame rate data is part of its ongoing efforts to improve the Steam Deck experience.
Minetest on Steam Deck device - FOSDEM 2024.
Valve Just Changed the Rules for Steam Deck Games!. Steam Flow
Valve has begun sharing frame rate data for games on the Steam Deck, aiming to provide developers with a clearer picture of how their titles perform on the handheld device. This move comes after players noted discrepancies between a game's 'Verified' status and its actual performance on the Steam Deck.
Ars Technica reported that Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, despite its 'Unsupported' status, runs at an average of 60 FPS on the Steam Deck OLED hardware. Similarly, Watch Dogs 2, which is officially unsupported due to anti-cheat compatibility issues, reportedly achieves 40+ FPS in single-player modes.
Valve's new data reveals that Cyberpunk 2077 averages 30-40 FPS on the Steam Deck, while Skyrim: Special Edition typically achieves 50-60 FPS, despite both games earning the same Steam Deck Verified badge.
Valve stated, 'We’re always looking for new ways to help developers understand the experiences customers are having with their games.' The company also noted that frame rate data consolidates around relatively narrow ranges, making it a useful metric for judging single-player modes of games with non-functional multiplayer components.
The Steam Deck Compatibility section of each game’s store page now displays average frame rates per device, provided enough data has been collected. Players can opt in to provide anonymous frame rate data via a setting detailed in Valve’s blog post.
Valve’s initiative to share frame rate data is part of its ongoing efforts to improve the Steam Deck experience. However, the company acknowledges that enabling VSync or frame rate limits can bias the collected data, and that custom in-game settings may affect performance.
In the last year, Valve has discontinued production of its most affordable Steam Deck model and increased prices by up to $300, with the 512GB OLED model now costing up to $789. This price hike has reportedly led to a decline in demand for the Steam Deck.
Griffais, a Valve representative, emphasized that the company is still looking for a 'very delineated performance improvement' for a potential Steam Deck 2. Valve is currently working on the next iteration of the Steam Deck but has made it clear that it will not release a new model unless it can offer a significant performance boost over the current version.
What this adds
Valve's new frame rate data initiative aims to provide developers with more accurate performance metrics for their games on the Steam Deck.
The data sharing could help address the discrepancies between a game's 'Verified' status and its actual performance on the Steam Deck.
Valve's decision to share frame rate data is part of its ongoing efforts to improve the Steam Deck experience and provide better support for developers.
What's confirmed
- Valve has begun sharing frame rate data for games on the Steam Deck, aiming to provide developers with a clearer picture of how their titles perform on the handheld device. This move comes after players noted discrepancies between a game's 'Verified' status and its actual performance on the Steam Deck.
- Ars Technica reported that Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, despite its 'Unsupported' status, runs at an average of 60 FPS on the Steam Deck OLED hardware. Similarly, Watch Dogs 2, which is officially unsupported due to anti-cheat compatibility issues, reportedly achieves 40+ FPS in single-player modes.
- Valve's new data reveals that Cyberpunk 2077 averages 30-40 FPS on the Steam Deck, while Skyrim: Special Edition typically achieves 50-60 FPS, despite both games earning the same Steam Deck Verified badge.
- Valve stated, 'We’re always looking for new ways to help developers understand the experiences customers are having with their games.' The company also noted that frame rate data consolidates around relatively narrow ranges, making it a useful metric for judging single-player modes of games with non-functional multiplayer components.
- The Steam Deck Compatibility section of each game’s store page now displays average frame rates per device, provided enough data has been collected. Players can opt in to provide anonymous frame rate data via a setting detailed in Valve’s blog post.
- Valve’s initiative to share frame rate data is part of its ongoing efforts to improve the Steam Deck experience. However, the company acknowledges that enabling VSync or frame rate limits can bias the collected data, and that custom in-game settings may affect performance.
- In the last year, Valve has discontinued production of its most affordable Steam Deck model and increased prices by up to $300, with the 512GB OLED model now costing up to $789. This price hike has reportedly led to a decline in demand for the Steam Deck.
- Griffais, a Valve representative, emphasized that the company is still looking for a 'very delineated performance improvement' for a potential Steam Deck 2. Valve is currently working on the next iteration of the Steam Deck but has made it clear that it will not release a new model unless it can offer a significant performance boost over the current version.
What's still developing
- For Valve, after the release of the Steam Machine was delayed, there have been questions about whether it will impact the development and eventual release of the Steam Deck 2.
- Do you believe the RAM and component crisis will impact when the Valve Steam Deck 2 releases?
- The crux of the message has always been that Valve is waiting for the proper technology in order to present a true “generational leap” in performance.
- In the time since the Steam Deck originally launched, a number of other, more powerful handheld gaming PCs have come to market – all at moderate to significantly higher prices.
- For more on that, be sure to check out our review of the Steam Frame, as well as why there’s no new Half-Life game.
- The unspoken part of that, of course, is that Valve is waiting for not just the right level of performance, but the correct performance to price ratio that would make Steam Deck 2 a viable product.
- In other words, the performance might be there now, but the price isn’t.
- On the other hand, the Steam Machine and Steam Frame have shown that Valve isn’t afraid of simply passing higher component prices along to the consumer.
- As I said before, it’s all about finding the right price to performance ratio where a new Steam Deck would make sense.
- It might be a worry, then, that the RAM crisis that has driven up hardware prices – everything from graphics cards to gaming consoles to the Steam Deck itself – would impact Valve’s plans for a device so sensitive to component costs like the Steam Deck 2.
- Back in April, JSON files buried in the Steam client pointed to a potential Steam “Framerate Estimator” tool that could let users “Select an App and a PC config to get a chart of estimated framerates, based on the framerates of other Steam users,” according to strings contained within.