Google releases beta version of Steam for 20 Chromebooks

Google and Valve have brought Steam to ChromeOS as beta. In addition, the system requirements for running the gaming software have been relaxed, which should make more Chromebooks compatible. Also, certain AMD CPUs are now supported.

Steam on ChromeOS entered its alpha phase in March of this year, but only supported seven different Chromebooks at the time. this time are there twenty. Support has been added for the twelfth generation Intel CPUs, but also for AMD’s Ryzen 5000 C series. Also, the minimum ram requirement has gone from 16GB to 8GB, although not every game will run with less than 16GB of ram. Intel i3s and Ryzen 3s are also supported.

Google promises that this new version of Steam will perform better on Chromebooks. One of those shortcomings, an excessive effect on frame rates at higher resolutions, should be fixed. Google also reports that the games will take up less storage space. There is also support for Proton, Valve’s translation layer to run Windows executables in Linux environments. However, anti-cheat software does not yet work on ChromeOS. There is also early support for DX12.

Google concretizes wider support for Steam on ChromeOS with a list of recommended games to play on the platform. 50 new games have now been added, the company reports. In the instructions for this beta it is written that ChromeOS beta 108.0.5359.24 will be the first to receive this new version from Steam. There is no planned date for the release version of Steam yet.