Valve Arms Steam Deck Devs With FPS Data To Fix Bad Performance

Valve has recently added support for Steam Deck FPS distribution data statistics in the Steamworks partner dashboard. That means developers of Steam games that have the Steam Deck Verified tag can track the in-game FPS of their players, so long as players opt into that tracking within SteamOS. Anonymized average framerates, framerate distribution, and user feedback are intended to help developers understand "how real players" are experiencing their game, and help them with changing (Steam Deck) default settings or further optimizing the game.

Valve notes, there are specific points to consider when evaluating this data. While the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED are largely identically internally, the Deck OLED does support a higher 90 Hz refresh rate. But users of either unit will often intentionally cap wattage, FPS, or both, to sustain longer battery life. Valve points this out explicitly, as well as edge cases where an external display uses a higher refresh rate. The FPS data also doesn't distinguish between loading screens and gameplay, which can further blur the results.

In the same blog post where Valve announced this move, it also addressed why this feature is currently locked to the Steam Deck LCD and the Steam Deck OLED at this time. In short, Valve is "starting with" the Steam Decks because they all share the same basic hardware configuration, making the data easier to understand. If Valve expands the program to other hardware (like the Steam Machine, or the next Steam Deck,) it'll be after iterating on this program as it learns what data and presentation is most useful. Hopefully the data can eventually filter the edge cases Valve has already laid out.

If you're a developer with games on Steam, especially Steam Deck Verified titles, you can start engaging with this data right now. Once you do, be sure to give Valve your feedback, as it seems intent on developing this Steam framerate distribution data feature. For the rest of us, the long-term impact of this move probably won't bear fruit for a while, but it does increase the likelihood of an improved optimization pipeline by the time Steam Deck 2 rolls around.