We inform exclusively that Google is working to bring official Steam support for Chromebooks in 2020. In parallel with the development of a new Linux container more suitable for games, the company is now experimenting with a new “Game Mode” that can bring more performance to the next Linux container.
Chrome Unboxed has found a new entry in the Google Chromium Gerrit development feature that suggests so much, appropriately called “Switch game mode to Borealis when full screen” – Borealis being the codename for the new Linux container. The entry further explains, “Implement the logic to track the state of the window and switch the game mode when a Borealis window is focused and enters and exits the entire screen.” This indicates that the game mode will be activated automatically whenever you open or close a game, and it is even possible that it is not a user-oriented option that you can activate and deactivate. Instead, the game mode could focus on automatically activating things like pointer locks and performance prioritization, although at this point, this is just speculation.
The entrance to Chromium Gerrit.
After more research on Gerrit, Chrome Unboxed has discovered that there will be clear messages when exiting and entering game mode, potentially very similar to the ones you see when entering full-screen websites or a Stadia game.
Ultimately, this game mode is just one more step out of many to make games on Chromebooks better, and may well be a requirement before Google is ready to introduce Steam to the platform. The game mode is still at an early stage, so it will be a while before we can say for sure how exactly it will be and what exactly it will do.
