Since Valve's Steam Deck Verified program launched in 2021, players have noticed discrepancies between a game's "Verified" status and its actual performance on the handheld. To address this, Valve has begun sharing anonymized frame rate data collected from opted-in Steam players since February. This data, now available on Steam Store pages, includes averages and histograms for both the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED models.
Valve acknowledges that factors like VSync or frame rate limits can bias the data, and it doesn't account for custom in-game settings. However, the company states that the frame rate data consolidates around relatively narrow ranges, providing a more realistic performance expectation.
For example, Cyberpunk 2077, a "Verified" game, sees average Deck frame rates in the 30–40 FPS range, whereas Skyrim: Special Edition usually achieves 50–60 FPS. Even "Unsupported" games like Starfield and Silent Hill 2 show playable rates. Notably, Assassin's Creed Syndicate approaches a 60 FPS average on the Steam Deck OLED hardware.
This transparency helps gamers make informed decisions, bridging the gap between official labels and actual usability.
Source: Ars Technica · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing