Even developers that make more than 1 game can't have minimum and recommended requirements to mean the same thing for all their games. Minimum could mean the below, or recommended could mean the below

720p low settings 30 fps with dips
720p low settings 30 fps
720p low settings 60 fps with dips
720p low settings 60 fps
720p med settings 30 fps with dips
720p med settings 30 fps
720p med settings 60 fps with dips
720p med settings 60 fps
720p high settings 30 fps with dips
720p high settings 30 fps
720p high settings 60 fps with dips
720p high settings 60 fps
1080p low settings 30 fps with dips
1080p low settings 30 fps
1080p low settings 60 fps with dips
1080p low settings 60 fps
1080p med settings 30 fps with dips
1080p med settings 30 fps
1080p med settings 60 fps with dips
1080p med settings 60 fps

Or any combination not mentioned above

Until Devs come to an agreement as to what minimum and recommended actually mean Steam could only do best guesswork and not very well.

If Steam states your system will play a game the results could be User A is happy with 720p low settings with dips below 30 but User B might deem that unplayable. Steam would get lots of backlash from user B and anyone else that feels the same and they'd likely want refunds.

Liability. To the customer:
Steam would have to offer much more loosened refund options if they overestimated the capabilities of your system setup, be it drivers, interfering software or just misjudged hardware.

Liability. To the publisher:
Steam would be liable for missed sales if they underestimated the capabilities of your system setup, be it outdated hardware lists, misjudging benchmark results or due to interfering software.

The system requirement info fields are form free text fields instead of static fields in which to add or select hardware components from.
Valve would have to have a perfectly written and ranked database in which components are compared and benchmarked, something no vendor, not even specialized sites that benchmark hardware, can provide accurately due to exotic outliers.

No, Valve wouldn't do that.

So I can use ultimate, master engineering skills to create a toaster capable of running this?
https://psteamproxy.yuanyoumao.com/app/351450/Scribble_Space/

Oprindeligt skrevet af Supafly:

Even developers that make more than 1 game can't have minimum and recommended requirements to mean the same thing for all their games. Minimum could mean the below, or recommended could mean the below

There is also the fact that there are performance differences for same component between different manufacturers. Then there are performance differences between similar computers due to software and drivers installed on each computer. In essence there is no way to tell 100% how a game performs in any single computer without trying it out though you should be able to at least get it to run decently in some settings if specs are at or above recommended specifications. And, ultimately, what that "running decently" means for each user is in the eye of beholder.

It's one of those easy to say, hard to do type things. Like we all get how simple it sounds. But there's reasons why there isn't just some site or tool that works amazingly well already. There's just too many variables to account for, and any time someone doesn't get the performance they think they should or wonders why its different than stated. It raises questions about accuracy or people constantly wanting to know why they get slightly worse performance.

Fact is if you have a crummy system, it's always going to be on you to manage that limitation. There's plenty of resources to help you do that. But it's never going to be a one button solution.

It's always going to be fuzzy and require research. At least while there's 100,000 hardware combinations.

There's several groups and even some curators dedicated to low-end/low-spec gaming.
Generally, it's best to learn ones own hardware and the limitations of such, vs games they wish to play, else to start getting some upgrades.
Laptops with integrated graphics really aren't made for gaming.

Oprindeligt skrevet af revanwima:

People with low-end and mid-range devices often have to repeatedly visit websites to compare whether their CPU and GPU can run a particular game. This is certainly very inconvenient. Wouldn't it be much easier to know whether a device is compatible or can run the game smoothly? Therefore, it seems that Steam should have a specific guide indicating whether a device is compatible or not, similar to Google Play, which features games ported from Android to PC. However, Steam should be able to read the system specifications or at least allow users to input their PC specifications into Steam. Alternatively, Steam could provide software that reads device specifications when the software is run. That’s my suggestion. I came up with this idea because the device I’m using is still outdated, featuring an Intel Core-i3 11154G CPU and an Intel UHD 720 GPU.

Those minimum and recommended spec sections are open text fields. They're not hard coded entries for devs to select. PC hardware is both numerous and ever evolving, so it doesn't make sense to limit those selections. Some publishers/developers have entered details such as "will run on potato" or "whatever your toaster has". Collating all of them into a tool for comparison is impossible.

Second, what a developer chooses is based on their opinion about what hardware spec will provide an enjoyable experience. Maybe they say it needs a RTX 3070 to run, but really can run on an old GTX1080, just without ray tracing or something. And what one dev feels is enjoyable may not be for another, or the user. How often have we seen games getting bad reviews because of performance even on high end hardware?

Back when I was still using a GTX 570HD, I could run games that said they required at least 10 series card. They didn't run as smooth, but they booted and I was fine with the frame rates.

Then there will always be a software consideration that the devs can't account for. Maybe you have something installed that will prevent a game from running well despite having the minimum specs. If Steam told you that your system should run it, and it turns out you can't because you have an AV utility getting in the way, is that Steam's fault? Many would think so and would expect Steam to make it right.