OVERVIEW
Today on June 26th, 2024, Valve released a new built-in system for creating and sharing gameplay footage, in beta. Creators and gaming enthusiasts can now record and share their gameplay directly from the Steam client or the Steam Deck.
I was able to perform a quick test of this new recording feature on the Steam Deck, and its functionality even in a beta, frankly astounded me. I performed this test on the OLED Steam Deck with HDR, so my review will reflect that experience, due to the nature of betas some experiences may vary.
Game Recording on A Steam Deck Impact on Battery Life
Recording gameplay on the Steam Deck with the new Steam Game Recording beta was easy to do. While gameplay resolution quality does not suffer, battery longevity is another story. I began the test at 75% battery and after 20 minutes of recording while playing, the battery dropped to 55%. A typical day of gaming on the Steam Deck will get me 2 hours of non-continuous gameplay taking the battery from 100% to 50%. So recording while gaming is a battery sink, though that is expected, especially in a beta.
Recording Impact on Graphics & Gameplay
Using Steam's built-in gameplay recording system while gaming on the Steam Deck did not cause any input delay with the game I was playing. In comparison back when I was streaming Ghost of Tsushima and using an Elgato HD60S capture card to view PS4 gameplay on a PC, there was nearly a second of input delay between commands (I know this was not the optimal gameplay experience, we live and learn).
Graphics also still look great and are not impacted too much. During this test, I was playing the Dustborn demo, and it looked the same as when I was playing the same demo without recording.
Editing & Sharing Clips From the Steam Deck
Creating clips from the recording is intuitive if you have experience editing media in programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Twitch and YouTube’s built-in clip editors. You can set in and out points easily by scrolling through the timeline. You can also add markers, which is great if you do not have time to immediately make clips.
Sharing clips to other devices was also an easy experience. You can send short clips as MP4s via link or with a QR code, to access on other devices. This makes sharing clips with friends or yourself in Discord quick and seamless. Larger clips, however, can only be retrieved by having those saved to your Steam account and accessing them later via desktop.
Final Thoughts on the Steam Game Recording Beta
Overall my experience with Game Recording on the Steam Deck was overwhelmingly positive. It was exceptionally easy to work with and set up. I’m looking forward to seeing how the beta period goes, and am eagerly awaiting the full release.
If you are interested in taking part in the open beta make sure your Steam Deck is set to Beta in the System Update channel. Go to System > Beta Participation > System Update Channel and select Beta. Then update your Steam Decks system and update the game recording feature, then the option to set up gameplay recordings should appear if it already was not visible.
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