Tesla is reportedly dropping Steam support from its cars, less than two years after it was first launched.
The Steam Beta app was originally launched in December 2022 in the Tesla’s Model S and Model X cars, with Elon Musk himself spruiking that drivers would be able to play games like Cyberpunk 2077 from their vehicles. At the time, it was announced that it would only apply to the Model S and X vehicles built in 2022 onwards, which included 16GB DDR memory and required “Premium Connectivity” to run. Steam was part of the Tesla Arcade, which Musk previously confirmed was Atari games, Cuphead, and Fallout Shelter that could be played while stationary – so no going 100km down a highway while getting sucked into Pan Am’s romance story arc, unfortunately.
While Musk’s lofty vision of building anything but just a car, including making his company’s cars into a gaming rig sounds like an interesting idea, according to Electrek the dream of dropping into Helldivers 2 from the seats of your new Tesla is now dead. “Tesla is updating the gaming computer in your Model X, and your vehicle is no longer capable of playing Steam games,” a statement from Tesla sent to customers awaiting their Model S and X cars reportedly said (via VGC). “All other entertainment and app functionalities are unaffected.”
Other Tesla Arcade features remain unimpacted for now, although it’s worth noting that in 2021 the company was investigated by the US National Highways and Traffic Safety Administration for the Passenger Play feature. Tesla rendered the Passenger Play feature unusable while the car is driving, with Steam part of the restriction – only cars that were parked or being charged could make use of it.
No reason for why Steam won’t be moving forward with new Tesla cars has been provided, although it appears existing Tesla owners who already have the app may remain unaffected by this reversal, unless the company says otherwise. It’s possible that maybe Tesla drivers just weren’t that keen on playing their Steam library while parked in their cars, when likely much more comfortable gaming setups were awaiting them at home.
Whatever the case may be, for the handful of Steam users planning to clock up their gaming hours from their new Tesla Model S or X, they’re shit out of luck. Thankfully, there’s infinitely cheaper gaming rigs out there that still run Steam, even if they’re not Elon Musk-approved.
Image: Tesla / Photo by Steve Granitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images / Kotaku Australia