Last Thursday's announcement by Valve and IGN that the Steam Deck handheld would target 30Hz gameplay was not well received. Valves Pierre-Loup Griffinais took to Twitter to clarify his initial comment and to reveal a new feature on the console.He says that 30 fps is a better minimum than any other bar.He writes that the 30 FPS target is the floor of what we consider to be playable in performance testing. Games he has tested and proven to have met or exceeded this bar.Griffais stated in an IGN interview that he couldn't find anything that would work on the device. This doesn't mean that every modern game runs at 60 frames per second. Expect less.Surprisingly, you can also proactively switch on a 30 FPS mode to increase your battery life. He also writes that there will be an optional FPS limiter built in to fine-tune performance vs. battery time. Portal 2 can be played for six hours at 30fps as opposed to the normal four hours.It will be at least 30 fps. It is still to be determined. In the replies, Digital Foundrys Richard Leadbetter says Valve confirmed to him that the Steam Deck doesnt have a variable-refresh-rate (VRR) screen, and eludes to the idea that V-sync might wind up creating some nasty frame pacing issues if you try to lock games to 30Hz on the Decks screen. Digital Foundry will be able to help you with this issue. It has covered it numerous times on both console and PC. For example, Dark Souls and Sekiro developer From Software are notorious for their inconsistent frame-pacing.For demanding games, a 30fps setting is fine. However, v-sync activated please ensure that every frame refresh is synchronized with the next screen refresh (typically on consoles). This will ensure consistency. Digital Foundry (@digitalfoundry), July 25, 2021. 30fps capped, but delivered unevenly at 16.7ms/33.3ms/50ms does not make for a great gaming experience.Griffais is yet to reply. Let's wait and see!
