Tesla Integrates Steam Library, Bringing Thousands of Games to Its Vehicles

Tesla has made good on its promise to integrate the popular gaming platform Steam into its electric vehicles. The company's latest holiday update includes a beta version of the Steam library, which allows owners to access thousands of games directly from their cars' infotainment systems.

The integration is currently limited to newer versions of the Model S and X with 16GB of RAM, but Elon Musk has stated that a retrofit will be available for earlier models in the future. However, it's unclear whether other vehicles, such as the Model 3 and Y, which use AMD Ryzen chips without discrete GPUs, will ever gain access to Steam.

Games must be downloaded over WiFi and stored locally on the vehicle's internal drive or external storage devices. Tesla has also released a 1TB SSD that costs $350 and is optimized for fast loading, but owners can use any solid-state drive they own, including rebranded Samsung T7 models available for under $140.

The Steam integration includes support for Bluetooth controllers and keyboard and mouse setups in compatible games, with PS5 controllers reportedly working best. However, it's worth noting that Tesla does not currently allow users to play Steam on the vehicle's rear 8-inch display while driving, limiting gameplay to the car's 17-inch screen when parked.

Tesla has also added support for external storage devices and released a new SSD optimized for fast loading, which will be available in February 2023. The company's Premium Connectivity service is required to access Steam, but it's unclear why this is necessary.