Steam starts gathering FPS data with latest client update — company to estimate framerates based on your hardware, Beta feature to focus on SteamOS devices

Steam will start gathering FPS data based on your hardware, allowing the company to potentially build a baseline and estimate game framerates based on your PC’s specifications. The company said in its last client update that the feature is currently in Beta, and that it will “focus on devices running SteamOS.” We’re unsure yet when this will drop for the general public and when we’ll see the results on the Store pages of various titles on the platform. However, this is an interesting data point, especially if it’s accurate, as it can give users a worthwhile estimate of how smoothly a game would run, especially on devices with borderline hardware, like a console or gaming laptop.

Xbox already has a feature that tells you whether a game should play well on your device, but it’s not super accurate. For example, it says that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III “Should perform great on your device,” on a gaming laptop running an Intel Core i7-10870H paired with an RTX 3060 and 32GB of RAM. While this technically falls under the recommended specifications for the game, in my personal use it runs at a rather cinematic framerate and load times are atrocious, leading to a rather disappointing experience. But if Steam can show an accurate FPS estimate on game titles, this would let gamers know what to expect and even help with making purchase decisions.

While this is a particularly useful option for PC gamers, Steam says that it will focus on SteamOS devices for Beta testing. This is likely because there’s a smaller number of configurations for the operating system, which is primarily used by handhelds like the Steam Deck and the Lenovo Legion Go S, versus desktop and laptop PCs, which practically have an infinite number of specifications. This might also be useful for gamers who intend to purchase a Steam Machine — although Steam’s console PC has been delayed several times, many still hope that it will launch later this year.

Of course, the feature is still in the Beta testing stage, so we are yet to see if this will get a general roll out and display estimated FPS numbers based on your hardware. More importantly, Steam must prove that its numbers will be accurate. After all, it would be disappointing if you bought a title because the Steam launcher suggested that it would have a playable FPS only to show an unstable and low framerate when you’re already playing the game.

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