Steam now shows the average framerate Steam Deck players get in each game, with a histogram to spot stutter

Valve's 10 November update puts real framerate data from opted-in Deck owners on Steam store pages. Verified no longer has to stand in for how well a game runs.

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A Steam store page can now tell you how a game actually runs on a Steam Deck. In a post titled "Steam Deck Framerate", dated 10 November, Valve says the average framerate Deck players get is shown for games that have been tested for Deck compatibility, whether they are rated Verified, Playable or Unsupported. You find it under Steam Deck Compatibility, then Learn more. Valve says thousands of games already have data, and it is also in the Library on the Steam Client Beta.

Click the average and it opens into a histogram showing what share of samples landed at each framerate. Valve's reason for it: the small columns at the low end are where you see how often players run into hitches and stutter.

Where the numbers come from

The data comes from Deck owners who opted in to sharing anonymised framerate data, which Valve says is a majority of them. It only counts Decks left at the default frame limit, 90 FPS on the OLED and 60 on the LCD, and it does not account for in-game graphics settings. There is a minimum number of samples before a game shows anything, so a small game with few Deck players may have no figure yet. You can opt out under Steam Account Settings, Data and Browsing, Anonymous Game Framerate Data.

Valve is open that the Verified badge was never the full story. It is based on standard test criteria, the post says, so an Unsupported game may be playable for some people and a Verified one may not reach the framerate others want. Ars Technica found examples straight away: Cyberpunk 2077 and Skyrim Special Edition are both Verified, but average around 30 to 40 FPS and 50 to 60 FPS respectively, while Assassin's Creed Syndicate gets close to 60 on the OLED despite being Unsupported.

Beyond the Deck

Valve calls this a step toward framerate data for more devices. It started with the Deck because every unit has the same hardware, which makes the numbers easier to read. The desktop Steam client beta is now prompting players to opt in to sharing framerate data too, and Valve says that prompt will reach everyone later. For smaller studios the same figures are a public measure of how their game runs on the handheld, next to the badge Valve gave it.

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Image: Image: Valve