Google Casually Announces Steam For Chrome OS Is Coming In Alpha For Select Chromebooks

At the 2022 Google for Games Developer Summit where its Stadia B2B cloud gaming platform was unveiled, Google announced the long-awaited availability of Steam on Chromebooks. 9to5Google reports: Google specifically said that the "Steam Alpha just launched, making this longtime PC game store available on select Chromebooks for users to try." That said, no other details appear to be live this morning, but we did reveal the device list last month. As we noted at the time: "At a minimum, your Chromebook needs to have an (11th gen) Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and a minimum of 7 GB of RAM. This eliminates almost all Chromebooks but those in the upper-mid range and high end."

Google today said "you can check that out on the Chromebook community forum." The post in question is now live, but without any actual availability timeline beyond "coming soon." However, we did learn that the "early, alpha-quality version of Steam" will first come to the Chrome OS Dev channel for a "small set" of devices.

Meanwhile, Google also said Chrome OS is getting a new "games overlay" on "select" Android titles to make them "playable with user-driven keyboard and mouse configurations on Chromebooks without developer changes." It will launch later this year in a public beta. Further reading: The part of the keynote where this announcement was made can be viewed here.

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Wow

[slashdot_commentator]

That's a brilliant win for Steam and Chrome's hardware division.

Re:

[slashdot_commentator]

Perhaps gaming will become the pr0n of chrome thin clients.

Re: Come on EGS catch up!

[e3m4n]

No. pr0n will always be the pr0n of electronic display devices ;-)

no AMD?? and poor video hardware? mods?

[Joe_Dragon]

no AMD?? and poor video hardware? will users be able to install mods?

Re: Why not just buy a Windows machine?

[Pinky's Brain]

In the future it might become a pretty good VM host (Bruschetta is supposed to add third party VMs).

Re: Why not just buy a Windows machine?

[e3m4n]

Not everyone can afford multiple gaming PCs or gaming laptops. If you consider an average family of 4; how many potential gamers live there? Technically 4. From a sellers standpoint why be satisfied that they are all competing for time on the same resource? Who has money and space for not one but four gaming machines that need an upgrade every 3yrs to stay relevant? Some. Maybe a larger percentage of slashdotters. But consider the entire market. Now suddenly the school systems have begun issuing Chromebooks

Re:

[wonkavader]

I love chromebooks. They just work. I do all my couch browsing, netflix watching on them. They're also my mobile linux platform, because while the linux isn't good (it's in a slow to start container) it's good enough.

I have a touchscreen one with a pen and it folds over to make a tablet. It runs Android apps. I have no urge to buy anything in the tablet space anymore.

Our family has 4 Chromebooks for 3 people, because one is school-supplied and slow.

I am absolutely looking forward to steam on mine. I w

Re:

[AvitarX]

Because sometimes I want to play games.

Believe it or not, many are playable without great graphics hardware.

Re:

[OrangeTide]

Most people don't need a full blown general purpose computer. They need a web-terminal and ideally also want a game console (because that makes people money).

Why ?

[bsdetector101]

Why even waste your time with Chrome OS let alone Steam on it ?

Re: Why ?

[e3m4n]

Kids. Damn near every kid has a Chromebook issued to them from school. AFAIK roblox and minecraft are a bit of a hack to get running on chromeOS. I have seen roblox on android but as of a couple years ago not on chromeOS. Certainly not Fortnite and other kid popular games that live off those token-type giftcards purchase-able at walmart. This idea strikes at the heart of long term marketing. Get the kids hooked early to secure the next generation of consumer. Its been everywhere from cartoon Joe Camel cigar

Re:

[omnichad]

The class of hardware that gets issued to gets on a school's budget are not going to run many games on Steam. It might stream games from a powerful gaming computer down the hall or run Stadia games just fine. But high end Chromebooks that can run actual games, while they exist, are not being issued by many schools.

Re: Why ?

[e3m4n]

Its my thought its gonna be some kind of stadia/steamlink thing anyway.

Then Google Stadia..

[bsdetector101]

Google had plenty of news about Stadia, the consumer-facing aspect of its cloud gaming products, at its Google for Games Developer Summit. Now Steam ???

Nice

[riis138]

More options is a win for everyone!

Steam on Chromebook?

[An0nYm0u5c0wArD]

So, no you can play on a LITERAL potato.

Steam on Chromebook?

[An0nYm0u5c0wArD]

So, now you can play on a LITERAL potato.