Chrome OS launches Steam support starting with 10th Gen Intel CPUs

As it stands, Chrome OS and gaming are rarely on the same page. There are games you can play on a Chromebook, but the catalog doesn’t come close to what you can get on a Windows PC. In January of this year, Android Police reported that Google was planning to officially support Chromebooks on Steam, and now 9to5Google has uncovered some evidence.

While you can technically install and play Steam games on your Chromebook now thanks to Linux support and GPU acceleration, the process of enabling and starting isn’t as seamless as regular users might expect.

The Chrome OS development team is working to scale up an existing Linux project, codenamed Crossini, by adding a new Linux virtual machine for Chrome OS, codenamed Borealis. Borealis appears to come with a pre-installed copy of Steam .

The main difference between Crostini and Borealis is that the former is based on Debian, while the latter is based on Ubuntu . Borealis is currently a full-fledged Linux distribution, but you can expect it to integrate with Chrome OS.

As 9to5Google points out, this move is likely due to Valve, the company that developed Steam. In addition to Steam, Valve has developed Proton, a Wine-based compatibility layer that enables Steam games on Linux. Additionally, Proton favors Ubuntu over other Linux distributions.

Another code change in Chromium Gerrit suggests that the first wave of Chromebooks using this new implementation based on Ubuntu will include 10th generation Intel CPUs. This includes machines such as the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook.

It seems unlikely that Google will allow Crostini (the current Linux implementation) and Borealis to coexist. Perhaps the company could replace Mr. Crostini with Mr. Borealis in the future. Either way, this allows for a consumer-friendly gaming experience for those looking to play what Steam has to offer.