Running PC Games on Android: DroidDeck's "About 60 FPS" Demo and Where Compatibility Stands
- What happened: A demo showed Cyberpunk 2077 running at about 60 FPS in DroidDeck, and version 0.4.0 expands its compatibility settings.
- Why it matters: By combining an Arm build of Steam with game translation technology, it reduces the effort of using existing PC games on Android.
- What to watch next: Compatibility varies by device and game, and measurement conditions, including frame generation, need to be checked.
DroidDeck is building an environment for running Steam and Windows PC games inside an Android device. In a demo by ETA PRIME, introduced by VideoCardz, Cyberpunk 2077 reportedly reached about 60 FPS at medium settings on the RedMagic 11 Pro. Rather than streaming video from a PC or the cloud, the approach runs the game on the device itself. The development team also officially released version 0.4.0 on October 12, 2026, adding per-game compatibility settings and automatic selection of the Windows components a game needs. To turn the achievement of running on a high-end smartphone into an environment where people can routinely play the games they already own, performance and compatibility need to be considered separately.
Separating the 60 FPS Demo From the 0.4.0 Update
According to VideoCardz's report, ETA PRIME used a RedMagic 11 Pro equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and 16 GB of memory. Cyberpunk 2077 reportedly ran at about 60 FPS at medium settings. However, this figure comes from a demo as relayed by that outlet, and the frame generation settings shown in the video could not be confirmed. It cannot be assumed to be a result of holding 60 FPS using rendered frames alone, nor can it be generalized into a performance benchmark for typical Android devices.
As for frame generation, DroidDeck itself includes a feature that uses Lossless Scaling. According to the developers, using it requires your own copy of Lossless Scaling, and its shaders are not bundled with DroidDeck. That the feature is available is a separate matter from whether it was enabled in this measurement. The roughly 60 FPS figure also doesn't allow us to work backward to the pre-generation rendering speed or long-term stability.
There is also a time gap between the demo and the latest release. Lining up the video page and GitHub publication dates gives the following order.
| Date published (2026) | Release | What can be confirmed |
|---|---|---|
| October 10 | ETA PRIME video | A demo using DroidDeck. Publication date confirmed on the video page |
| October 12 | DroidDeck 0.4.0 | Official release adding per-game compatibility settings and more |
The demo, published October 10, predates the official 0.4.0 release on October 12. The roughly 60 FPS result therefore cannot be treated as an effect of this update. What is being compared here is only the order of publication dates; we have not identified the exact build used in the demo or whether a development version was used ahead of release. Separating the performance demo from the update that improves settings and operation makes it clearer what DroidDeck has achieved and what it is still refining.
How Steam and Windows Games Run Differently
The difference between the Steam client and the games themselves is key to understanding DroidDeck's structure. The 0.2.0 release notes already describe a setup that runs Valve's ARM64 Steam client and uses ARM64 Proton and FEX for Windows games. Steam is displayed in Big Picture mode, which suits controller input, and games can be downloaded on the device. This basic configuration was not first realized in 0.4.0.
The ARM64 Steam client is a program prepared for Arm-based processors. Running Windows games designed for PCs, on the other hand, involves Proton, a compatibility layer for running Windows software, plus FEX, which handles differences in CPU instructions. FEX's developers describe it as an emulator that runs x86 applications on ARM64 Linux, and list running Windows games in combination with Wine and Proton among its uses.
In other words, Steam running natively on Arm does not mean the translation step disappears for Windows games. DroidDeck leaves Android in place and makes a Linux runtime environment and multiple compatibility technologies available from within the app. It is not a port rebuilt for Android but a mechanism for running existing PC versions. This distinction matters both when choosing a supported device and when reading per-game reports of how well titles run.
0.4.0 Reduces the Effort of Per-Game Setup
The most practical change in the 0.4.0 changelog is that compatibility settings can now be saved for each game. In addition to Proton and FEX, users can individually specify DXVK and VKD3D-Proton, which handle rendering, as well as required Windows components, and can also inherit default settings. This moves toward managing the configuration chosen for a given title on a per-game basis.
Installation of Windows components is also becoming more automated. Required components are selected based on dependency information held by stores such as Steam, while leaving room for users to change them manually. Support has also been broadened for items such as the Visual C++ redistributable packages and .NET Framework. The update is an attempt to have the app take on the preparation PC games require beyond simply choosing a compatibility layer.
The entry points to games have also increased. Libraries can be loaded from GOG, Epic Games, and Amazon Games accounts, and downloaded games can be launched from Steam. Cloud saves are listed as supported for GOG and Epic Games, not as a feature common to all stores. For smartphone controls, Steam's touch controller is introduced as a beta, and per-game control layouts and community configurations can be used.
However, the addition of saved settings and automatic component selection alone does not mean every game now runs. The changelog describes features that reduce the effort of installation and tuning; it is not the result of measuring the proportion of supported games or improvements in average frame rate. The value of 0.4.0 is more concretely understood as a change that makes the differing preparation for each title easier to handle, rather than something tied to flashy performance numbers.
Even With a Supported GPU, Playability Varies by Game
According to the developers' README, the requirements are Android 9 or later and a supported Adreno GPU. Levels of support are not uniform, and even the same Adreno name can differ.
| GPU category | Support status stated in the README |
|---|---|
| Adreno 730 or later, or 8xx | Supported |
| Adreno 6xx | Experimental support. DirectX 11 may work via DXVK 2, while DirectX 12 games may crash |
| Adreno 710 | Not supported |
| Mali, Xclipse, PowerVR | Not supported |
This table reflects GPU support policy, not a guarantee that games will run. The developers themselves state that compatibility and performance vary by device and that real-device testing is limited. Rather than judging by GPU name alone, you need operating information for the specific combination of the title you want to play and your device.
The VideoCardz writer also notes that DroidDeck launched on the Mangmi Pocket Max, but Raft did not start. It was a limited trial and does not show that the game is wholly unsupported, but it is an example of the difference between the Steam screen opening and a game actually running. The new feature for saving compatibility settings is a means of handling this kind of individual tuning, not a promise that the cause of a launch failure will be resolved automatically.
Installation does not require root access, but a setting that disables Android's child process restrictions is needed before launching Steam. As for storage, you should allow about 3 GB for the runtime environment and about 1.1 GB for the additional desktop and emulators, with the games themselves needing separate space. The development team denies any partnership with Valve and warns that it has no independent official website, so the reliable route is to follow the GitHub Releases page linked from the README.
Whether DroidDeck grows into an everyday gaming environment depends on how many titles can be launched, controlled, and played continuously with reproducible results on the same device and settings. If such operating information and per-game settings accumulate, users should be able to cut down on the trial and error of playing their existing PC games on Android.