Estimated FPS data could be coming to Steam soon

We all know how vague official system requirements for games can be. They hardly provide any useful information about what performance level you can expect from a game based on your system specifications. If you're lucky, you may get a hint as to whether you can even run the game on your PC in the first place. Well, it looks like that may be about to change very soon with a new feature that Valve is working on.

Recently, user Dex3108 on the ResetEra forums spotted a line in the Steam Client code that wasn't there before. The line read "Select an App and a PC config to get a chart of estimated frame rates, based on the frame rates of other users." This line suggests that users may be able to use a Steam Store tool to get estimated performance data for each game based on their system specifications.

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If that feature becomes publicly available, it will be a huge benefit to PC gamers and even users of the Steam Deck and the upcoming Steam Machine. It will most likely put an end to the "recommended system specifications" that are posted by game developers. Instead, users will be able to get a good idea of the performance level that they can expect in the game that they're looking to buy.

It can also be a crucial consideration before purchasing a game. Knowing whether a game runs well on your PC can be an important factor in your purchase decision. On the other hand, it will prevent a lot of buyers' remorse, since you can get an idea that a particular game might not run well on your PC, and therefore avoid spending money on it altogether.

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Another thing to note is that the estimated performance data will be based on the "frame rates of other users". This likely means Valve will collect more in-depth performance data from Steam users worldwide to improve this feature. Of course, this involves a lot of trust in Valve's handling of personal data, which might not be an easy pill to swallow for many users. An option to opt out of data collection would be a welcome addition.

In the same vein, Valve has recently started prompting SteamOS users about whether they are willing to allow FPS tracking anonymously. You can already publish game reviews on Steam with your entire PC specifications displayed, so that can be another point of relevant data collection.

It will be interesting to see how Valve handles FPS data when using upscaling technologies like FSR and DLSS, which are becoming increasingly common. It would be nice to have a configurable tool that lets you set graphics settings for each game individually. We may be getting ahead of ourselves here, as Valve has yet to officially announce this feature.