New Steam Deck update finally gets highly requested performance settings

The latest Steam Deck update has added a feature that lets players easily adjust the performance settings depending on what game they’re playing.

As revealed in the latest Steam Deck update patch notes, players can now set up game-specific performance settings via the Quick Access Menu. What this means is that rather than going through and changing the performance settings of the Valve handheld each time you want to change them, you can instead set up custom performance profiles for each game you play.

For example, you could have a game-specific profile made up of high-performance settings for the games you want to experience at their best or a lower spec profile for a game that isn’t as demanding. According to the patch notes, each game booted up on the console will use the system performance settings by default, so it’s up to players to decide if they want to create these custom profiles and when they want to use each profile they’ve set up.

This is just one of the new features added to the Steam Deck in the May 11 update. Other noteworthy new additions include the new external display settings which allows the Steam Deck’s interface to be scaled up to virtual 1280x800 resolution. As the patch notes address though: "More work on this feature and functionality is underway."

Other than this, the rest of the update provides a number of fixes and minor enhancements, everything from keyboard alterations to improvements with the online and offline modes, and more. You can see a full list of all the changes being made to your Steam Deck via the link above.

Wondering if it’s worth picking up one of Valve’s handheld consoles? Take a look at our Steam Deck review to see what all the fuss is about.

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.