Google is ending support for the Steam client for Chromebooks. According to the official announcement, games installed through the program will no longer run on these devices starting January 1, 2026. This is reported by 9to5google.
Steam for Chromebooks launched in March 2022 as an alpha version, and in November it entered beta mode with reduced hardware requirements. The minimum configuration was an Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 processor with 8 GB of RAM, although Google recommended using a Core i5 or Ryzen 5 with 16 GB. The platform was based on the Linux version of Steam, and the list of compatible games included 99 titles.
Project Steam was part of Google's broader initiative to develop ChromeOS's gaming capabilities, which also included Android apps and cloud streaming. In the second half of 2022, the company introduced its first Chromebooks aimed at gamers.
However, Steam for ChromeOS has been discontinued since late 2023, and a stable version of the client has never been released. According to Google, the end of Steam support does not mean the end of gaming on Chromebooks - users will still have access to Android apps from the Play Store and cloud services.
This decision coincides with the technical transition from ChromeOS to Android, which involves creating a single platform for mobile and desktop devices.