Steam Officially Arrives on Chrome OS; Works on a Select Few Chromebooks

After surprisinglyannouncing the Steam Alpha program for Chrome OSlast week, Google is now slowly releasing more details about Steam running on Chromebooks. The company has officially enabled support for Steam for a few Chromebook models that come with the required hardware. So, let’s take a look at the details.

Steam Now Available for a Few Chromebooks

Following last week’s announcement, Google has sharedan in-depth reporton its Chromium Projects forum, sharing a list of Chromebook models that currently support Steam and the games that will be available to play on Chrome OS. Here’s a list of the supported Chromebook models for the Steam alpha test:

Google says that it will update the list once more Chromebook models are added to the list. While the list of supported Chromebook models is short, the list of the supported games is pretty long. This includesgames like The Witcher 3, Half-Life 2, Tekken 7, Portal 2, and more.

Basic Requirements to Get Steam on Chrome OS

For those wondering about the hardware requirements, you need a Chromebook withat least 11th-GenIntelCore i5 or i7 CPUs and a minimum of 8GB of RAM with Intel Iris Xe GPUto run Steam on Chrome OS. The company particularly mentioned that devices with an Intel i3 processor and 4GB of RAM will not be sufficient.

Additionally, Google mentioned that devices with 8GB of RAM may encounter issues while playing games that require a minimum of 6GB of RAM. Plus, the Chromebook models with a display resolution greater than 1080p may also encounter performance and scaling issues.

If you are able to fulfill these requirements, you can switch to the Dev channel on your Chromebook and refer to the Google blog post to get gaming with Steam on Chrome OS. However,Google warns it may contain numerous bugs and glitches, given that it’s the alpha version and“anything can break.”Therefore, the company suggests not to run Steam if your Chromebook model is your daily driver.

As for the availability of Steam on Chrome OS beta and stable channels, Google did not confirm a launch timeline as of now. The company, in its FAQ section, says that it will expand the availability of Steam on Chrome OS when the developers“feel the product is ready.”So, stay tuned for further updates, and let us know your thoughts about Steam on Chrome OS in the comments below.

Dwaipayan Sengupta

A geek at heart, you’ll find me fidgeting with an iOS device or sitting in front of the laptop, scouring the internet to find interesting technological innovations. In my free time, you’d find me playing Valorant or listening to Pink Floyd.

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