Tesla has confirmed that its new in-car gaming computer will no longer be compatible with Steam. The company has reportedly sent emails to customers who are waiting for delivery of their new Tesla Model S and X vehicles to inform them of the update. The message reportedly said, “Tesla is updating the gaming computer in your Model X, and your vehicle is no longer capable of playing Steam games. All other entertainment and app functionalities are unaffected.” The change doesn’t appear to impact existing Tesla owners, only those waiting on new models being delivered from the automaker.
This news comes as a bit of a surprise since 18 months ago, Tesla announced a native app on Twitter that allowed car owners to play video games in their vehicles. The original video showed a driver playing Cyberpunk 2077 on their car’s infotainment screen with the help of a PlayStation 5 DualSense controller. Elon Musk even boasted about the feature, tweeting that Tesla owners could play Elden Ring, Cyberpunk, and thousands of other games in their cars with an epic sound system, before comparing it to the PS5.
The automaker initially introduced a number of Atari games to Tesla cars before adding other titles like Fallout Shelter and Cuphead. However, in 2021, Tesla added a safety feature where the Passenger Play feature would be disabled while the vehicle was in motion. This change was implemented after the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted an investigation and raised concerns that it could lead to accidents on the road.
It’s currently unclear why Tesla made the decision to remove Steam support from its in-car gaming computer, but if you’re a Tesla customer waiting for delivery of your vehicle, you likely received an email informing you about the change. While it seems like a minor loss for gamers in the Tesla community, it’ll be interesting to see if there’s any backlash from fans who had been looking forward to playing Steam games while on the go
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