Valve unveiled the Steam Deck last week. At the time, the company already unveiled all the most important bits of information about the handheld gaming PC. But it looks like the company is still drip-feeding bits of information about the device. And a new one is regarding the expected performance that users can expect from it.

In an interview with IGN, Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais explains that the Steam Deck is targeting 30fps gameplay at its native resolution of 800p. He explains that the company has tested the device with all the games released this year, and it managed to run them “without issues”. He also attributes “industry trends” of favouring stable framerates over high resolutions as being in the handheld’s favour.

Which is quite a thing to say, considering both metrics are just about a single step below what gamers would call the standard. After all, if you ask what most gamers want in games, the most common answer will probably be 60fps, and a range of between 1080p and 1440p for resolution.

Perhaps it is a compromise that Valve expects gamers to be fine with, due to the portable nature of the Steam Deck. And it’s probably not without merit, since people are fine with the Nintendo Switch and its 720p resolution while in handheld mode.

(Source: IGN / YouTube)