After debuting in 2022, the Steam for Chromebook Beta will stop working in early 2026. At the time, it was a big ChromeOS effort, but there hasn’t been an update in ages.
Entering “Steam” into the ChromeOS Launcher starts the install process like before, but there’s now an intermediary message: “The Steam for Chromebook Beta program will conclude on January 1st, 2026. After this date, games installed as part of the Beta will no longer be available to play on your device. We appreciate your participation in and contribution to learnings from the beta program, which will inform the future of Chromebook gaming.”
At the time, this was part of a sizable gaming push for ChromeOS. Steam joined Android apps and cloud streaming to provide a third way to play games on Chromebooks. Later in 2022, Google announced the first Gaming Chromebooks.
Steam for Chromebooks launched in Alpha that March before reaching Beta in November with lower hardware requirements: Intel Core i3 and AMD Ryzen 3 with 8 GB of RAM. However, Core i5 or Ryzen 5 and 16 GB is recommended. It uses the Linux version of a game, with Google maintaining a list of compatible titles, which is currently at 99.
When support ends at the start of next year, existing games that are already installed will be removed. With hindsight, the fact that Steam for Chromebook never entered stable was a pretty good indicator of the effort’s standing.
Google alludes to there being a future for Chromebook gaming. This comes as the technical underpinnings of ChromeOS eventually get migrated to Android. In that regard, there will always be Android apps from the Play Store for local games, as well as streaming services.
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