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Kingmakers performance

Nobody outside the playtests can measure it yet. What exists is the developers’ own account: performance was one of the two reasons the game was delayed, the goal is a true 60 frames per second on mid-range PCs without frame generation, and the game director has answered players about stutter, older hardware and stability on the Steam forum.

A soldier runs through ferns toward a large fight between soldiers at the edge of a forest.
Running toward a large fight at the edge of a forest. Frame at 3:16 in the Gameplay Deep Dive, tinyBuildGAMES.

The target, in three numbers

60 fpstrue frame rate on mid-range PCs, the goal named in the delay letter
RTX 3060the class of card the director says can certainly run it
Tens of thousandssoldiers in a mission, each with their own AI, by the studio’s description

The letter that called off the Early Access date put performance next to content polish as the reason: the studio wanted the game on “true 60fps to midrange PCs, without the need for fake frames”. The whole letter is on why Kingmakers was delayed, and the listed hardware is on Kingmakers system requirements.

Stutter

When a player worried that Unreal Engine 4 games are known for stutter, the director pointed to a system the studio built:

Paul Fisch Game director, replying on the Steam forum

“We have our own system that we built to handle PSO caching in addition to the built in unreal 4 one. That is likely the stutter you’re talking about.”

Thread: Paul Fisch on shader stutter, Steam discussions

The reply says the studio built its own PSO caching system on top of the one that comes with Unreal Engine 4, and that this is likely the stutter the player meant. It does not say the problem is solved. The one hands-on report found so far, from a convention floor, does not discuss stutter.

Who works on it, and how stable the last test was

Paul Fisch Game director, replying on the Steam forum

“We have dedicated people that only work on performance optimization. It is their entire job. This is something we care a lot about and are constantly working on.”

“In terms of bugs the most recent playtest was very stable. I personally designed the multiplayer framework and it is made to be extremely robust. It can handle significantly more lag than most games and maintain stability.”

Thread: Paul Fisch on optimisation and stability, Steam discussions

Both are the developer’s own assessment of its own build. The second matters for co-op, where four players share a battle over the internet; how that works is on Kingmakers co-op and multiplayer.

Older and low-end PCs

Asked what he meant by testers using a wide variety of hardware, the director described a spread rather than a floor:

Paul Fisch Game director, replying on the Steam forum

“A large variety of amd/nvidia gpus and intel/amd cpus.”

Thread: Paul Fisch on low-end PCs, Steam discussions

In the same reply he said he did not remember the lowest spec they had tried, but had seen the game run on very weak machines at the lowest settings, and that the aim is for it to scale down as far as possible. There is still no official number below the Epic page’s minimum tier, which lists an RTX 2060. For a handheld, see Kingmakers on Steam Deck.

Still unanswered

Open: 4K and high refresh ratesA player asked what very high-end PCs can expect at 4K; the thread has no developer reply. See the Steam discussion thread asking about 4K performance
Open: DLSS, FSR or frame generation optionsNot listed. The 60 fps goal is stated as without frame generation, which describes the target, not what settings the game will offer.
Open: Settings for each hardware tierNeither store page says what resolution or frame rate its minimum and recommended tiers aim for.
Open: Final requirementsThe director has said they will be locked down closer to release.

Independent numbers will only exist once far more people are playing it. The first step toward that is the Steam playtest, explained on the Kingmakers playtest page.