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Today marked the beginning of the 2022 Google for Games Developer Summit. During the keynote, the company had quite a few announcements to make, such as bringing the Play As You Download feature to all Android 12 users. However, another “announcement” was made. Well, it was really just glanced over.
In one section of the presentation, Google shared that gaming on Chrome OS continues to grow in popularity, as “games led Android usage up 50% YoY”. But in that slide, there was a little tidbit that we weren’t expecting with the introduction of Steam Alpha. Outside of stating that Steam for Chrome OS had just launched in an Alpha program, not much else was shared. Unfortunately, we don’t officially know what Chromebooks are compatible with this program, and we don’t know if you can even sign up for it today.
However, a report last month gave us a bit more of an in-depth look at what the requirements will be in order to play Steam games on your Chrome OS device. Plus, a list was provided for some of the first Chromebooks that are expected to feature support once Steam Alpha is made available:
- Volta – Acer Chromebook 514 (CB514-1H)
- Volet – Acer Chromebook 515
- Voxel – Acer Chromebook Spin 713 (CP713-3W)
- Delbin – ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 (CX5500)
- Drobit – ASUS Chromebook CX9 (CX9400)
- Elemi – HP Pro c640 G2 Chromebook
- Lindar – Unknown/unreleased Chromebook from Lenovo
As for the minimum spec requirements, you’ll need Intel’s 11th-gen Core i5 or Core i7 processor, and at least 7GB of RAM. Unsurprisingly, this leaves a lot of the best-selling Chromebooks out of the fun, as you’ll need more powerful machines if you want to play your Steam titles.
During the presentation, it was noted that you should refer to a post on the Chromebook Community Forums, but at the time of this writing, that post is unavailable. We’ll be sure to provide an update once more information is made available about Steam Alpha on Chrome OS.
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