Google is pulling the plug on its Steam Beta for gaming on Chromebooks

Google has been trying to make the case for years that Chromebooks are more than just web browsers with keyboards and screens. And in 2022 the company introduced a new category of Chromebooks built for gaming, including models with high screen refresh rates, RGB backlit keyboards, and other premium features… including beta support for Valve's Steam game client.

Now Google is letting users know that the "Steam for Chromebook Beta program will conclude on January 1s, 2026."

Gaming Chromebooks from Acer, Asus, Lenovo (2022)

According to reports from 9to5Google and Chrome Unboxed, that's the message you'll see if you type Steam into the ChromeOS launcher. Google says after January 1st, games installed on a Chromebook will no longer be playable.

Google does hint that this isn't the end of gaming on Chromebooks, going on to indicate that it will take the lessons learned during this beta and use them to "inform the future of Chromebook gaming," although it's unclear exactly what that will look like.

For now it's pretty much a given that you'll at least be able to continue playing Android games downloaded from the Google Play Store, or to use a browser to stream games from cloud gaming services.

It's also possible that users who have installed Linux on their Chromebooks may be able to install native Linux versions of Steam or other game platforms manually. But with Google announcing that official support for Steam on ChromeOS ending, it won't be as simple and there won't be any official support.

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