Steam could be coming to Chromebooks

Google's Chrome team recently dropped hints that it’s in discussions to bring Steam to Chrome OS, and therefore, to Chromebooks, according to Android Police. The move would bring games to a platform that traditionally hasn’t had them, in large part because it hasn’t had the sort of hardware required for gaming. That’s changing, though.

Considering how much better Chromebooks have gotten of late, and how excited we are for the forthcoming Galaxy Chromebook Samsung unveiled at CES, we’re all for this, especially as it’s very unlikely Samsung will be the only company making sufficiently potent Chromebooks for long.

Gaming is already popular on Chromebooks — The news stems from a discussion with Kan Liu, director of product management for Chrome OS. Liu told Android Police gaming is already the most popular category for downloads from the Play Store on Chromebooks, so even if the titles available on Steam are limited, there’d clearly be plenty of appeal for Chromebook owners.

Liu couldn’t commit to a timeline for when Steam might come to Chrome OS, or even confirm that it’ll definitely happen. He also wouldn’t comment on whether or not Nvidia, Qualcomm or any other chipmakers have committed to supplying GPUs for Chromebooks. But with AMD Chromebooks incoming, we’re cautiously optimistic.