We’ve known since the beginning of the year that Google is working to bring Steam to Chromebooks. Now, from the hand of 9to5Google, we know something more about this integration that is taking place.
In this sense, the aforementioned publication has been finding in recent weeks a new open source project within the Chromium code under the codename Borealis. As they have been able to know, it is another Linux distribution that will be integrated into Chrome OS to bring Steam, coming pre-installed as standard.
Chrome OS is closer to supporting Steam games
It is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu, unlike the Crostini project, which allows Linux applications to run on Chrome OS in a virtualized way, which is based on Debian.
The aforementioned publication considers it unlikely that both Linux distributions will coexist within Chrome OS because this would lead to the use of more space on the storage units.
What has been known, thanks to a recent change in the code in Chromium Gerrit, is that Google is internally testing Steam support in Chrome OS under the code name hatch-Borealis, where hatch refers to Chromebooks with 10th generation Intel processors.
This indicates that, at least initially, it will be necessary to have a Chromebook with a 10th generation Intel processor. What still remains to be known is whether to expand the compatibility to Chromebooks with previous generation Intel processors, and if in this case it will also have support for future Chromebooks that arrive with AMD Ryzen processors.
What is clear is that Google seems to be serious in the gaming segment, which will allow that, in the case of Chromebooks, it could increase its share of users, being mostly known in the educational field.
