Steam for ChromeOS Chromebooks is being killed off

By Liam Dawe - 8 Aug 2025 at 5:21 pm UTC

Last updated: 8 Aug 2025 at 5:26 pm UTC

Another one for the Google (and Valve) graveyard, this time it's Steam for Chromebooks as it's being killed off early next year.

The project has been in Beta since November 2022, and sadly it's coming to an abrupt close on January 1st, 2026 where installed games will no longer be playable. It will just be entirely gone. As reported by 9to5Google, when you now go to install Steam on ChromeOS a message will pop up noting "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."

Pictured credit: 9to5Google

A shame but not exactly surprising, the Beta never really went anywhere with not much effort seemingly being put into it to push it further. I've barely heard much at all about it since the 2022 Beta release.

Plus, with all the reports on Google looking to in some ways combine Android and ChromeOS together, their focus is clearly elsewhere.

Did any of you use Steam on ChromeOS / Chromebooks?

I've reached out to Valve to see if they have anything to add.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.

Tags: Google, Misc, Steam

12 Likes

About the author - Liam Dawe

I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
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14 comments

DryPapHmrBro a day ago

That was longer than expected!

4 Likes

GetBeaned a day ago

I haven't owned a Chromebook since way before this beta released so it was never something I looked at. The last I heard about it was when Proton.DB added a section for it, but I've only ever seen 2 game reports, both for TF2, which while not a perfect barometer for its popularity does suggest it wasn't a hit.

Everything Google touches when it comes to gaming just ends up disappointing or dead. I tried the "Google Play on PC" thing back when I used Windows and it had Clash Royale along with a hundred P2W games no one in their right mind would play ever, let alone on a desktop. Stadia's gone, and now this.

0 Likes

ghostdog a day ago

I use it. The performance is... uneven. But as with Steam Deck even "unsupported" games work decently, and it was cool to be able to run some games locally without streaming from my desktop. I hope that they'll continue to improve Linux/cortini support and maybe running Steam that way will be viable.

1 Likes

Purple Library Guy a day ago

learnings from the beta program, which will inform the future of Chromebook gaming.

Apparently what they learned about that future is, there won't be one.

4 Likes

rea987 a day ago

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/google_announcement.png

4 Likes

AsciiWolf a day ago

Supporter Plus

No surprise considering that ChromeOS is already dead.

2 Likes

Mohandevir a day ago

Local gaming always felt weird, on a cloud based laptop. GeForce Now, Xbox Gamepass (cloud) and Amazon Luna are feeling more aligned with this philosophy.

So... A Valve branded SteamOS laptop? emoji

0 Likes

Mountain Man a day ago

This is surprising. Not that Valve is abandoning Steam on Chromebooks but that Chromebooks still exist. I thought Google had already discontinued them.

0 Likes

melkemind a day ago

Supporter

I have a Chromebook, but it stopped receiving updates years ago, so I put a regular Linux distro on it (can't remember which one). As it's an x86 Chromebook, Steam runs perfectly on Linux. Since then I've also been Degoogling. I don't even use Google as a search engine anymore. I used to think their using Linux would be good for us, but boy was I wrong!

6 Likes

elmapul a day ago

google is way more stupid than i thought

2 Likes

rarn 23 hours ago

New User

It was working very well, what a shame... Mostly with "old games" true, but still it was a blast. Yes I bought a gaming Chromebook a few years ago, and I didn't regret it until now ^^. Pretty disappointed, but I guess I should have seen it coming.

1 Likes

wefasdv 23 hours ago

New User

@Mountain Man Chromebooks completely took over education, at least in the US. It was happening before covid, but covid's what completed Google's conquest.

(tbf, the desktop computers we used when I was growing up were running streamlined ZENWorks on top of Windows, so it's not like we were much better off as far as learning how to use a workstation from school; I don't want to give the impression kids now are relatively disadvantaged by using one giant corporation's solution instead of another)

1 Likes

TheRiddick 23 hours ago

Valve should just do a CLI API that forgo's all UI GUI functionality. Much like how Legendary can launch epic games without anything but command line arguments.

0 Likes

mr-victory 21 hours ago

View PC info

@theriddick look up steamcmd

0 Likes

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