Steam Deck Store Pages Now Display Average In-Game Frame Rates

Real player data now shows how games actually run on the Deck.

Steam has started showing average performance numbers for games on its handheld, and it's worth your attention. The new Steam Deck frame rate figures come from real players, so you can see what to expect before you spend money on a game.

The average comes from customers who opted in to share anonymized data, and it covers games tested for compatibility, whether rated Verified, Playable, or Unsupported. Thousands of titles already have numbers. You'll find the Steam Deck frame rate average on a game's store page under Steam Deck Compatibility and Learn More, and in your library on the Steam client beta.

An expandable detail view adds a Steam Deck frame rate histogram, which breaks down the percentage of samples at each frame rate. It shows how the average was produced and how often players hit hitches, which appear as small columns at the lower end. Stuttering matters a lot here.

A game can hold a high frame rate and still be ruined by constant stuttering. Steam added the Steam Deck frame rate averages because the current Steam Deck Verified rating relies on standardized tests, which may not match your own bar for acceptable gameplay.

A game rated Unsupported for unstable performance might feel fine to you, while a Steam Deck Verified game might miss the frame rate you want. No universal standard defines what counts as playable, verified, recommended, or minimum, so more information is the best fix.

Developers and publishers often fall short here.

System requirements are improving, with some games listing four or six tiers, but that's not universal, and the specs don't always reflect real performance. Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight caused a panic over its system requirements, yet it ran pretty well on PC.

Danganronpa 2x2 and Shrek 2 Remastered feel like cases where publishers look at the most popular hardware and print it as the system requirements. It's the same missing standard. Verification has missed too. The Dead Space remake earned the Steam Deck Verified badge even though players dipped to around 15 frames per second, and Spider-Man 2 was verified at launch.

That's misleading. With Steam Deck frame rate averages and the frame rate histogram showing those dips, you get a more complete picture before buying. The idea behind the Steam Deck frame rate numbers is that more information on a store page helps everyone. Details you don't care about may matter a lot to someone else.

You might shrug at a game averaging 58 frames per second, but another player could find that too low, and they should be able to see it. This isn't about starting a fight. It's about letting people buy games that match their expectations.

The data comes from Deck owners who opted in.

You can opt in from the library page or change it in account settings under Data Browsing and Anonymous Game Frame Rate Data. It's limited to the Deck because every unit has the same hardware. The FAQ also says a big gap between 90 and 45 usually comes from a mismatch between display refresh rate and the game's frame rate, and it covers VSync and how the average and frame rate histogram handle changed settings.

Overall, it's a strong Steam Deck frame rate implementation. Other hardware would benefit too. It's easier on the Deck because the hardware is fixed. Expanding Steam Deck frame rate data to PC is harder, since graphics cards are clocked differently, CPUs can bottleneck, and background apps eat performance.

It should be general guidance. CPU, GPU, and RAM together would likely draw enough matching players for a generalized analysis. It won't be as detailed as people want, but it beats nothing. The same goes for known problems. A store page could plainly say that players recently reported crashes, stuttering, or frame drops, especially for new releases. 

Reviews already hold that, but pulling common complaints into a list of known issues would help you decide. This is a step in the right direction for Steam Deck frame rate reporting, and there's room to build on it, so keep an eye on how Steam Deck frame rate data develops.