Steam for Chromebooks enters beta, 50 games compatible

Valve makes its gaming platform Steam fit for Chromebooks. The new beta version Chrome OS 108.0.5359.24 finally brings the client to Google’s notebooks. We will reveal which devices are supported and which games are compatible here.

Steam comes to the Chromebook

Owners of the often inexpensive Chromebooks have had to do without Valve’s gaming platform Steam until now – also because of the Chrome OS operating system. That changes with the new Chrome beta update Chrome OS 108.0.5359.24, which Google has now unveiled.

The prerequisite is that you are in possession of a Chromebook with at least an Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 processor and at least 8 GB of RAM. Compared to the previous alpha version, the hardware requirements thus drop significantly once again, which noticeably increases the number of compatible Chromebooks.

Following Chromebooks can use Steam for Chrome OS as of now:.

• Acer Chromebook 514 (CB514-1W)
• Acer Chromebook 515 (CB515-1W)
• Acer Chromebook 516 GE
• Acer Chromebook Spin 514 (CP514-3H, CP514-3HH, CP514-3WH)
• Acer Chromebook Spin 713 (CP713-3W)
• Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (CP714-1WN)
• Acer Chromebook Vero 514
• ASUS Chromebook CX9 (CX9400)
• ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 (CX5500)
• ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 (CX5601)
• ASUS Chromebook Vibe CX55 Flip
• Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition
• HP Elite c640 14 inch G3 Chromebook
• HP Elite c645 G2 Chromebook
• HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook
• HP Pro c640 G2 Chromebook
• IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook 16
• Lenovo 5i-14 Chromebook
• Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook 14
• Lenovo ThinkPad C14

Some 50 games supported

Google plans to gradually expand and update the list of compatible Chromebooks. At launch, around 50 compatible games are available. However, Google points out that some of them require Steam Play to be installed and some run better when the specs of the Chromebook are higher – Google mentions 16 GB RAM here.

Games that run on Steam for Chromebooks include Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, Cult of the Lamb, Dark Souls Remastered, Disney Dreamlight Valley, DOOM, and Half-Life 2.

Some titles require you to adjust certain graphics settings to make them run. These include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition or The Witcher 3, for example, which require you to set the graphics details to Medium or Low – these two open-world RPGs also require at least 16 GB of RAM.

After Google scrapped its own cloud gaming service Stadia, the manufacturer had recently unveiled several cloud gaming Chromebooks from Acer, Asus and Lenovo. With the launch of Steam for Chromebooks, the devices become even quite a bit more attractive for gamers.