Testing Now Open: Steam Snap with Core26 is Here!

Ubuntu gamers can now participate in testing a new version of Canonical’s Steam snap, upgraded to utilize a core26 base and an enhanced Mesa graphics driver stack. This development aims to provide improved gaming performance by leveraging a version based on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, along with an updated gaming-graphics-core26 content snap.

To opt in, users can execute the command snap refresh steam --channel stable/core26 in their terminal. This new testing channel allows players to install and play games, customize settings, and gauge performance while utilizing a dedicated stack of graphics drivers and system components. This isolation from the host OS’s versions means that users with LTS builds can still benefit from the latest updates without requiring an overall operating system upgrade.

Canonical emphasizes that this version is still in a beta stage, and users should anticipate potential bugs and behavioral quirks. Feedback regarding issues should be directed to the Canonical Steam snap GitHub, rather than to Valve, as the Snap version is not officially supported by them.

If users encounter significant problems, reverting to the previous core24 version of Steam is straightforward with the command snap refresh steam --stable. The updated graphics stack is designed to operate seamlessly, allowing users to access the necessary components without manual intervention.

Though not much of a gamer myself, the prevailing opinion is that Canonical’s Steam snap performs comparably, if not better, than the official Debian version available from Valve.