Google and Valve will kill “Steam for Chromebooks” experiment in January 2026

For those few gamers utilizing Steam on Chromebooks, there's disappointing news on the horizon. Google and Valve have announced that they will cease support for the ChromeOS version of Steam, currently in beta, effective January 1, 2026. This information was reported by 9to5Google and comes with an official notice for users. Starting in 2026, users will be unable to play any games that were installed during the beta program. The notification explicitly states, “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.” The companies expressed gratitude for users' participation, which has contributed to valuable insights for future Chromebook gaming. Initially rolled out in early 2022, Steam launched on Chromebooks as an alpha version that functioned only on select newer devices powered by Intel processors. Later that same year, a beta version was introduced, expanding compatibility to include AMD CPUs and GPUs, while also lowering system requirements. Since then, updates from Google and Valve regarding the program had been sparse. The Steam beta was part of a broader initiative by Google to enhance the gaming experience on Chromebooks, which also included the introduction of laptops equipped with improved hardware and high-refresh-rate displays, as well as optimized versions of popular cloud gaming services like GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Reports indicate that Google had been working on integrating Steam into ChromeOS since at least 2020.