News Google to kill Steam for Chromebook beta in 2026 — Installed games will 'no longer be available to play

[Admin]

Google is discontinuing Steam on Chromebook by 2026, with devices losing installed games.

Google to kill Steam for Chromebook beta in 2026 — Installed games will 'no longer be available to play : Read more

 

[usertests]

minimal specification requirements — an Intel Core i3 or an AMD Ryzen 3 CPU

It also had a rather sparse library of just 99 games

Maybe they're killing their version because it's nonsensical that proper Steam can't run on x86 Linux? And the modern iGPUs will play thousands of older and indie titles just fine.

 

[Pierce2623]

Maybe they're killing their version because it's nonsensical that proper Steam can't run on x86 Linux? And the modern iGPUs will play thousands of older and indie titles just fine.

Proper steam can’t run on x86 Linux? Ever heard of SteamOS? Or Proton?

 

[ezst036]

I have this nagging voice telling me that Google is quietly giving up. ChromeOS isn't long for this world anymore.

 

[nookoool]

The google graveyard strikes again.
Rumor they will combine android and chromeos. If that happens, it will have better access to android gaming rather than limited access via the arcvm.

 

[hannibal]

I have this nagging voice telling me that Google is quietly giving up. ChromeOS isn't long for this world anymore.

ChromeOS is not going anywhere! Schools all around the world are full of Chromebooks an it is in wide usage also along many "normal" people!
But gaming in Chromebooks... It is easy to see why they give up that idea! People/institutions who use Chromebooks did not buy it for gaming!

 

[derekullo]

I'm sure Rimworld and other similarly styled games would run just fine given that hardware.
"a Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, Intel HD Graphics 4000 or equivalent, and 500MB of storage space"

 

[vanadiel007]

Looks like Google is repositioning itself lately.

I expect some more "things" to be slowly fazed out, and AI fazed in. They are feeling the threat AI poses to their search engine, and are getting ready to "compete".

 

[abufrejoval]

Apart from all those good arguments about ChromeOS' future in general, there is one golden rule to what Google does: do not let your competition grow with the help of your platforms.

And Google really, really, really doesn't like Valve any more than the fruity cult does after years of court battles.

And Steam isn't just about locally hosted games, but also remote play, where the importance of the local computing capacity is even less important than it being a cheap screen in front of an end-user.

 

[usertests]

Proper steam can’t run on x86 Linux? Ever heard of SteamOS? Or Proton?

I think I used the wrong double negative there. It's nonsensical that Google's version plays only 99 games when thousands work on other Linux systems.

 

[Notton]

I haven't tried it myself, but there is an option to flash a UEFI ROM firmware on supported chrombooks. After which you can install Linux or Windows. The site with all the documentation is MrChromebox.tech, if you're curious to try it yourself.

The only reason I was interested was because there are a bunch of "excellent condition" refurb gaming chromebooks popping up in places like BB and Amazon with a highly tempting price.
It's like $300 for a 16" 2560x1600, 120Hz, 350nits, 100%sRGB screen attached to a 72Whr battery and i3-1215u, 8GB RAM, and replaceable 128GB eMMC.
IMO that is a killer screen and battery size for any laptop in general for that price.

 

[Pierce2623]

I haven't tried it myself, but there is an option to flash a UEFI ROM firmware on supported chrombooks. After which you can install Linux or Windows. The site with all the documentation is MrChromebox.tech, if you're curious to try it yourself.

The only reason I was interested was because there are a bunch of "excellent condition" refurb gaming chromebooks popping up in places like BB and Amazon with a highly tempting price.
It's like $300 for a 16" 2560x1600, 120Hz, 350nits, 100%sRGB screen attached to a 72Whr battery and i3-1215u, 8GB RAM, and replaceable 128GB eMMC.
IMO that is a killer screen and battery size for any laptop in general for that price.

I got my GF a brand new Windows 1215u laptop with 16GB of RAM for $350. It’s actually even an Asus. No 120Hz display though.

 

[Notton]

I got my GF a brand new Windows 1215u laptop with 16GB of RAM for $350. It’s actually even an Asus. No 120Hz display though.

It's not just the refresh rate.
It's also the brightness, color gamut, resolution, and battery life that sets the gaming chromebook apart (It's a Lenovo Ideapad Gaming Chromebook 16 btw).
I have a bunch of cheap laptops, and from experience, screen quality and battery size are the only thing that save otherwise crappy CPU/RAM configurations.

 

[nookoool]

It's not just the refresh rate.
It's also the brightness, color gamut, resolution, and battery life that sets the gaming chromebook apart (It's a Lenovo Ideapad Gaming Chromebook 16 btw).
I have a bunch of cheap laptops, and from experience, screen quality and battery size are the only thing that save otherwise crappy CPU/RAM configurations.

If i remember correctly, there are features and drivers that might not be supported for some machines if you use the special firmware to run linux or windows. I believe some have sound or bluetooth issues or they make you pay for the patch to access features.

 

[Notton]

If i remember correctly, there are features and drivers that might not be supported for some machines if you use the special firmware to run linux or windows. I believe some have sound or bluetooth issues or they make you pay for the patch to access features.

Yes, that is correct. It's listed in the compatibility issues on the Mrchromebox.tech website.
That Lenovo I referred to has no issues in Linux.
The reason why I haven't bought one to test it out myself is because my top priority is a 7"~8.8" handheld PC, rather a 16" laptop.