New Tesla vehicles can no longer play Steam games

Tesla is reportedly dropping Steam support for its cars, less than two years after it was first launched.

The Steam Beta app was originally released in December 2022 in the Tesla Model S and Model Cyberpunk 2077 from their vehicles. At the time, it was announced that it would only apply to Models S and Steam was part of the Tesla Arcade, which Musk previously confirmed was Atari games. Cup headAnd Fallout shelter This could be played while stationary – so unfortunately you couldn't drive 100km down a highway and get sucked into Pan Am's romantic story arc.

While Musk's lofty vision of building something other than just a car and converting his company's cars into a gaming rig sounds like an interesting idea, Electrek says it's the dream to dive into Helldivers 2 from the seats of your new Tesla is now dead. “Tesla is updating the gaming computer in your model “All other entertainment and app functionality remains unaffected.”

Other Tesla Arcade features remain unaffected for now, but it's worth noting that the company was investigated by the US National Highways and Traffic Safety Administration in 2021 over the Passenger Play feature. Tesla made the Passenger Play feature unusable while driving, with Steam being part of the restriction – only cars that were parked or charging could use it.

No reason was given as to why Steam is not moving forward with development of new Tesla cars, although it appears that existing Tesla owners who already have the app will remain unaffected by this reversal unless the company states otherwise. It's possible that Tesla drivers simply weren't as keen on playing their Steam library while parked in their cars, while much more comfortable gaming setups likely awaited them at home.

Whatever the case may be, for the handful of Steam users who plan to spend their gaming hours on their new Tesla Model S or X, they're out of luck. Luckily, there are infinitely cheaper gaming computers that still run Steam, even if they aren't approved by Elon Musk.

Image: Tesla / Photo by Steve Granitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images / Kotaku Australia