Olivia Richman 
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is coming out soon and anime fans with early access are already giving it raving reviews. But can Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero be played on Steam Deck?
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is officially releasing for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC when it comes out. That hasn’t stopped some gamers from wondering if they can get the fighting game to work on their Steam Deck, of course. Said to be faster paced and more exciting than previous Dragon Ball fighting game titles, the ability to play the competitive game from anywhere has been very appealing.
Is it possible to play Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero on Steam Deck?
Can you play Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero on Steam Deck?
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero can be played on Steam Deck, but the game will run at a low frame rate, and online may be unplayable.
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is meant to run at 60 FPS. Unfortunately, this is too much for Steam Deck to handle. Lowering the game’s frame rate can cause it to be quite laggy and make online play unbearable and inaccurate.
There are ways to fix the game’s frame rate for Steam Deck, first shared by SteamDeckHQ. But it’s still up in the air if this will make general online play bearable. For now, however, many early access players are getting an error when they attempt to play a match online on Steam Deck.
This could be solved when the game officially launches on October 11, 2024. Until then, gamers aren’t quite sure that online play will work as intended on Steam Deck. For now, players are just creating private rooms for other friends on Steam Deck to play with one another.
Best Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero settings for Steam Deck
There are no official settings for Steam Deck since Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is not meant to be played on Steam Deck. Of course, that hasn’t stopped gamers at all.
FGC fans have been discussing possible best settings for Sparking Zero based on their experience and testing during the game’s early release period ahead of launch. Here are the best settings for Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero on Steam Deck:
- Windows Mode: Borderless
- Resolution: 1280×800
- Resolution Scaling: 100
- V-Sync: On
- Anti-Aliasing: Medium
- LOD Quality: Medium
- Grass: Low
- Motion Blur: Low
- Camera Shake: High
- Destruction Effect: High
There’s bad news, however. When players have tried Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero on lower settings that allow it to work on Steam Deck, the FPS lowers significantly. With the above settings, players are seeing 40 to 50FPS. Some gamers have discovered that this is due to devs using a setting in Unreal Engine that results in a fixed framerate.
Some fighting game enthusiasts are telling others not to play Sparking Zero on Steam Deck until there’s a hotfix that focuses on game speed. Until then, the lower FPS when optimized for Steam Deck makes the game lag and feel beyond frustrating.
