How to play games on Tesla?

Owning a Tesla is not just about owning a car; it’s like buying a full-fledged gaming console that allows you to play tons of games on-the-go.

However, your Tesla gaming experience varies depending on which vehicle you own and which year you bought it.

Also, you need to know that gaming in Tesla doesn't pose any safety hazards.  

Here's everything you should know about Tesla gaming. 

What Tesla Gaming Options Are Available? 

Tesla now offers multiple gaming options:

1. Arcade

After Tesla launched its own Arcade App more and more games have been added to the Arcade to provide owners a complete suite of entertainment, including Cuphead, Beach Buggy Racing 2 & Battle of Polytopia.

2. Steam

In December 2022, select Model S and X were given access to Steam thus offering 6000+ games. 

However, the Steam integration was short-lived. Steam support was soon removed as a cost-cutting measure.

If you are one of the lucky few whose Tesla supports Steam, this post includes steps on playing Steam games also.

3. YouTube Playables

You can play close to 75 browser-based games after Tesla enabled YouTube Playables. Here's a complete guide on accessing these games.

4. Retro Gaming

When Tesla first launched, you could play retro Atari Games on it, but most Teslas no longer support them.

If you still want to play your favorite childhood games in your Tesla, we have come up with a workaround for retro gaming in Tesla.

How to Access the Arcade in Your Tesla? 

All Tesla model owners can access the Arcade from the Entertainment tab on their touchscreen displays.

Some games such as Beach Buggy Racing 2 can be played using the on-screen controls, as well as the steering wheel or yoke.

But others need gaming controllers like the ones Jowua offers, but we’ll talk about that a little later. 

Which Games Can You Play On All Tesla Models?

Tesla continuously updates its Arcade collection from time to time. 

While some arcade games are staple and go as far back as the arcade release date, newer games get airdropped all the time.

For example, Castle Doombad Classic & Boomerang Fu, were recently added to the arcade.

As you can see, you can even play multiplayer games using 4 Jowua controllers simultaneously!

Apart from the newer additions, Beach Buggy Racing 2, Cat Quest, Cuphead, Sky Force Reloaded, and Super Breakout are some most popular games on Tesla Arcade.

Can You Play Steam Games on Tesla Model S and X?

In December 2022, Tesla’s Steam partnership was launched on Model S and X released in 2022 or later. Elon Musk’s even confirmed that the older Model S and X will be retrofitted to make Steam integration possible.

However, in May 2024, Steam support was removed from the newer Tesla models S and X, as a cost-cutting measure.

The vehicles were released with a less-powerful GPU which did not support Steam.

The owners who had booked their vehicles were asked to confirm delivery by accepting that their Tesla would not come with Steam support.

Even Cybertruck doesn't have the Steam-supporting GPU.

Therefore, only a few Tesla Model S & X have Steam support while no new models do.

Some of the requirements for Steam include:

• 16GB DDR RAM
• AMD Ryzen processor
• A discrete AMD's RDNA 2 GPU i.e. the same one as PS5. It enables up to 10 teraflops of computing power when more graphic-intensive Steam games are played
• Premium Connectivity costing $9.99 per month 

Note: Tesla runs a Linux-based Steam version similar to that on Steam Deck but not the Windows version.

How To Play Steam Games On Tesla?

If you are one of the lucky Tesla owners who bought a Model S or X between 2022 and 2024, you might have the GPU required to play Steam games.

So here are the steps for playing Steam games on Tesla:

1. Get Steam Beta App:

Downloaded the Holiday Update released on December 13th, 2022, on your 2022+ models S & X to see the Steam Beta app in your arcade section.

Note: Steam gaming is unavailable on the rear screen. 

2. Sync your games:

If you love to have your gaming progress synced across all your devices, Steam lets you sync your games over the cloud.  

3. Download the game you want to play:

Steam games need to be stored locally on your Tesla. Model X owner’s manual mentions that 64GB of internal storage needs to be reserved for DashCam. This leaves only about 80 to 100 GB for gaming and other purposes. 

But large game such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Hogwarts Legacy require about 70 to 90 GB.

So, to download more than one game at a time, you will need an external 1TB SSD to expand the gaming partition. 

Therefore, Jowua has developed a 1TB SSD  with super fast 10GBps data transfers, allowing you immersive gaming in Tesla experience.  

4. Grab your controllers:

Once your game is downloaded, all you need is a fantastic gaming controller to get gaming! 

Gaming controllers make it more intuitive to tackle those really hard-to-kill enemies and getting out of tight spots. 

Therefore, we recommend the Jowua Multi-Device Wireless Gaming Controllers.

Not only do these pair with your Tesla, but these also work on almost any gaming device, including Xbox, PS5, and Nintendo Switch. 

Check out the video below to find out the exact paring settings. 

What Happened to TeslAtari?

Since the very first Tesla launch, gaming in Tesla has come a long way.

Now, all Tesla models come with the built-in Arcade app.

But before that, Tesla offered retro Atari games through Easter egg updates to the TeslAtari emulator. 

You could play '70s and '80s Atari games such as Missile Command, Asteroids, Lunar Lander, and Centipede.

However, in the 2024.20.3 update, Tesla removed these Atari games from vehicles with AMD Ryzen processors. And it is expected that even Teslas with Intel-based processors will follow this lead very soon. 

But if you still like to play retro games in your Tesla, we have a workaround for you.

Is Gaming in Tesla Safe?

Initially, Tesla only allowed gaming while the car was parked, however, in 2020 “Passenger Play” was introduced. It allowed passengers to game even in the moving vehicle. When Tesla owners filed a complaint against it, NHTSA opened an enquiry on Tesla. 

NHTSA claimed that even though only passengers were allowed to play games in a moving vehicle, the driver could easily bypass the verification process. And even if he didn’t, on-screen gaming by passengers would distract the driver while driving, increasing crash risks. 

Thus Tesla rolled back its vehicles and provided software updates. So as of May 2023, Tesla has disabled “Passenger Play” while the car is moving. Post which, after its own investigation that ensured that video games would not be visible while the car is moving, NHTSA cleared Tesla and closed the enquiry, when 97% of the vehicles were reported to have updated their vehicles. 

Tesla even explained that gaming on Tesla is not meant for while the car is moving, but only for passing time while the vehicle charges. 

So, gaming in Tesla is completely safe as long as you have the update that disables Passenger Play and you don’t game in a moving vehicle.