Chrome OS machines might soon support the ability to play Steam games, although we don't know exactly when just yet.
Speaking to Android Police, Chrome OS product leader Kan Liu confirmed Google is working - perhaps even with Valve - on an effort that would allow Chromebooks to run Steam, Valve’s gaming platform. He also said more powerful Chromebooks are coming down the pike, and that we can expect new rigs with AMD processors. But he didn't provide any release dates or reveal when Steam support would arrive.
Google has been tinkering with Chrome OS over the past few years. It's brought support for native Android apps, for instance, opening up Chromebook laptops to hundreds of new mobile experiences. Now, with Steam, it appears to be doing the same for games.
Steam and Chrome OS are both Linux-based. However, Chromebooks tend to be low-power devices, and many Steam games are graphically intensive. We suppose that's why Liu promised us more robust machines; Steam support on high-end Chrome OS devices would be super enticing.
For now, though, it's hard to picture Chromebooks running Steam smoothly. Still, we're excited about what the future will bring. Keep in mind Steam also supports streaming games from other computers. But Liu indicated Google is only focused on native gameplay right now.
We could imagine Google pivoting Chrome OS, however. After all, it's a cloud-based operating system, and Google also has Stadia, a cloud-based game streaming service that doesn’t require high-end hardware. It'll be interesting to see when or even if these two roads ever meet up.