Steam to add new feature that estimates your frame rate before buying a game

It looks Steam could be gearing up to add a feature that will tell PC gamers what sort of frame rates they can expect their hardware to run games at with FPS data displayed on the storefront.

As pointed out by X user LambdaGen, a new data string appeared on Steam’s backend over the weekend that refers to a ‘Framerate Estimator’. This was discovered by user Roadrunner via SteamDB.

In the data string, a passage reads: “Select an App and a PC config to get a chart of estimated framerates, based on the framerates of other Steam users.”

From there, it refers to several hardware components including CPU, RAM and GPU, indicating that the store will use hardware data from participating users to estimate how well a game will run. In theory, this should provide gamers with more information on whether their game will run well on their PC or not.

Currently, Steam only displays the minimum and recommended PC specs for games listed on the store. However, these are often dictated by the developer and never usually translate to guaranteed framerates.

Steam already collects hardware data from users who opt into its hardware survey. One X user points out that they were recently asked to share framerate data anonymously with the platform, which is another indicator that Valve could be gearing up to launch this new feature.

Another X user points out that framerates very much depend on the graphics settings being used. This is especially true in the era of AI when utilising tools such as DLSS and FSR frame generation can artificially inflate frame rates by orders of magnitude more than their native rasterisations.

However, while this feature might be hit or miss for the millions of PC hardware combinations that gamers might have, the feature is expected to be a huge boon for those using a Steam Deck or one of the upcoming Steam Machines. Those use a set hardware configuration, so it stands to reason that a framerate estimator could accurately predict the sort of performance to expect on Valve’s own hardware devices.

Although Valve is yet to announce the feature officially, fans of the platform are already getting excited about its potential.

“A feature I’ve wanted for SO LONG,” reads one X post. Another adds: “very cool. Steam is probably one of the only platforms I'd love to give more analytics data voluntarily.”

Meanwhile, a third writes: “This is great. Steam just keeps winning.”

While it’s currently unclear how Valve intends to present this feature, it appears to be another step towards providing its customers with more information before they purchase a particular game. Currently, gamers can get a full refund for games they purchase as long as they request it before logging two hours of gameplay and within two weeks of the initial purchase.

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