12 votes

Google is working to bring official support for Steam to Chrome OS

5 comments

  1. [3]
    moocow1452
    Link
    Granted, there are a lot of indie games that can run on a Chromebook, Google does weird stuff all the time, and anything to close the gaps on Windows is appreciated, but what does this mean for...

    Granted, there are a lot of indie games that can run on a Chromebook, Google does weird stuff all the time, and anything to close the gaps on Windows is appreciated, but what does this mean for Chrome OS in the future? Are we getting more native Linux applicants without messing with Crostini and containers? Is the year of the Linux Desktop at hand? Are we ever going to reconcile the idea that Linux based end user systems are widely available through Chrome OS and Android, but subsidized by the greatest information gathering service in the world? Something, Something Stadia!?

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      mrbig
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Google: started Chrome OS as an always-online system realized this did not work, gave it Chrome OS Apps is killing Chrome OS Apps, but is now supposedly bringing Steam to it? At this point, what's...

      Google:

      • started Chrome OS as an always-online system
      • realized this did not work, gave it Chrome OS Apps
      • is killing Chrome OS Apps, but is now supposedly bringing Steam to it?

      At this point, what's the advantage of Chrome OS instead of simply making a proper Linux distribution for their machines?

      Chrome notebooks always seemed pointless for me anyway.

      1 vote
      1. Jedi
        Link Parent
        This isn't true, Chrome OS works perfectly fine offline without Chrome apps. You still have Android apps, PWA's (albeit rare), and now Linux software is supported. You can already run Steam—quite...

        This isn't true, Chrome OS works perfectly fine offline without Chrome apps. You still have Android apps, PWA's (albeit rare), and now Linux software is supported.

        You can already run Steam—quite easily, but this is about them bringing official support for Chrome OS.

        2 votes
  2. [2]
    Bullmaestro
    Link
    So far, this feels like a really stupid move on Google's end. Chromebooks (with the exception of Google's own offerings, which are too overpriced and too highly-specced to take advantage of their...

    So far, this feels like a really stupid move on Google's end.

    Chromebooks (with the exception of Google's own offerings, which are too overpriced and too highly-specced to take advantage of their core market) are specifically designed to be incredibly low cost laptops that can do nothing more intensive than everyday tasks like word processing, streaming videos, browsing Facebook, checking emails, etc. Adding Linux and by extension Steam support to Chrome OS is just going to further divert the operating system and the Chromebook beyond their originally intended purpose.

    Also, presuming all Chromebooks on the market presumably have low cost and low performance integrated graphics that aren't suited for gaming, the move to support Steam seems even more questionable. Virtually no existing hardware will be able to take advantage of this.

    1 vote
    1. heady
      Link Parent
      There are a plenty of games on steam with exceptionally low system requirements such as retro arcade/dos era games and interactive graphic novels.

      There are a plenty of games on steam with exceptionally low system requirements such as retro arcade/dos era games and interactive graphic novels.

      3 votes