Valve is working on a new Steam store feature that will display expected frame rate performance for games before purchase. The system would show buyers an estimated FPS number based on real-world data collected from other players with similar hardware.
Steam has already started asking users to opt into anonymized performance data collection. Players on Steam Deck have reported seeing prompts requesting permission to collect frame rate and frametime metrics. This data pipeline appears to be live and gathering information.
The feature makes the most sense for Steam Deck and other standardized hardware. Since every Steam Deck has the same CPU, GPU, and display resolution, Valve can provide accurate performance estimates. A player looking at a game on their Deck could see “likely 45–60 FPS at medium settings” with real confidence behind that number.
Regular Windows PCs present a bigger challenge. Hardware combinations vary wildly across millions of different CPU and GPU pairings. Driver versions differ. Background applications like Discord and browsers eat resources. Some users run overlays and recording software. All of these factors make accurate predictions harder.
Performance also depends heavily on in-game settings. A game might run at 120 FPS on low settings but struggle to hit 30 FPS on ultra. Resolution matters too. Frame generation technology adds another layer of complexity since it creates artificial frames that boost the FPS counter but can introduce latency.
How this changes things
Right now Steam only shows minimum and recommended system requirements provided by developers. These specs rarely tell you actual FPS targets or at what settings you’ll hit them. A “recommended” spec might mean 60 FPS on medium or 30 FPS on ultra depending on the developer.
The new system would pull from aggregated player data to show what people with your hardware actually get. Steam has the scale to make this work since it’s the largest PC game distribution platform. The platform already runs hardware surveys and has visibility into what specs players are using.
