Mac version of Steam on the way?

By Oli Welsh Published 25 February, 2010

New beta code suggests so.

Members of the Steam community, digging through the code of the recently-released new beta version of the client for the download service, have uncovered evidence of plans for Mac support.

A thread on the Steam forums spotted by Kotaku uncovered a bunch of tell-tale Mac OS X files in the code, like the open, maximise and minimise icons, system dock graphics and menu files.

Whilst Valve's download service is mostly populated with Windows-only PC games, Kotaku points out that several publishers on the service including EA, PopCap and id Software do offer Mac versions of some or all of their games. Many of the indie games available on Steam also have Mac versions available elsewhere.

Valve has yet to comment on whether it's officially bringing Steam to Apple computers.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (34) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ChthonicEcho #1 2 years ago

    It's sort of sad that every surprise Valve had had in store in the past was always spoiled by the curious.

    On the other hand, it's also amusing.

  • LiveForever #2 2 years ago

    Whats the point in Mac Support? I love my Mac but without directx support there isn't much too play.


    Come on StarcraftII, stop delaying Blizzard. People need to stop paying for WoW so that they finally release another game.

  • Tomo #3 2 years ago

    Good news this. Hopefully, buying a game will get you both the Mac and PC versions...

  • matrim83 #4 2 years ago

    @Liveforever I assume it would be mostly so that people can purchase stuff from their non gaming PC. For example, people who travel frequently and wouldnt wanna miss out on sales etc. Plus I am sure some of the Popcap etc games will be Mac compatible.

    Anyway I was a bit suprised by how many people are using Steam. Yesterday it showed me there were about 2.5 Mill users online. I thought PC gaming was dead and shit. :D

    Beta client is buggy as hell for me though. Too many crashes and it updates everytime I reboot. But I love the slick new interface.

  • MikkyX #5 2 years ago

    Wonder how this will work for games that are dual-format at retail, like Football Manager? I got FM2010 off Steam and it would be terribly nice of Valve / Sega to allow me to download the Mac version too if Mac Steam becomes a reality.......

  • nikobe #6 2 years ago

    @matrim83 You can already buy any steam game via the website on almost any platform, I bought stuff from the last sale on my work linux box.

    I would imagine they will do something like grey out any games on your list not mac compatible (most sadly) with developers working to add mac support where possible.

    They could use some sort of fancy game wrapper to make them work but I don't see that happening it would create too many extra glitches that would be impossible to support.

  • MikkyX #7 2 years ago

    Could ship it with Crossover built in - or provide Cider wrapped versions of games where applicable, but I can't see publishers going for that somehow......

  • matrim83 #8 2 years ago

    Ah. Never bought anything off the website. The client is always running anyway. :p

  • Bloobat #9 2 years ago

    Don't most people play on windows, more games need to be on mac for this to really take of and be worthwhile...

  • flaming.carrot #10 2 years ago

    Surprisesd, I thought Gabe hated the Mac almost as much as the Playstation brand. Not sure if any of you remember the vocal distain Valve had for Apple over the Half Life Mac fiasco. Anyway being a mac user this is great news, fingers crossed.

  • Raya #11 2 years ago

    >Whats the point in Mac Support? I love my Mac but without directx support there isn't much too play.

    Transgaming.... I'm playing mac dragon age no problem. It basically running it through bare bones windows config and out the otherside on mac hardware, so it makes porting much easier. If a game like Dragon Age runs well then it bodes well for more games on Mac. But it's not so easy to buy them in a store or online. Direct2Drive has some.

    Play ported Bioshock on Mac and tell me you need direct X ...

    Great to see steam on it's way to mac!

  • CptFantastic #12 2 years ago

    Wouldn't it also beat Apple itself on having an "App Store" for it's Mac computers?

  • bigbadbeasty #13 2 years ago

    I have been waiting for Mac support for Steam. But I expected it to never happen tbh

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #14 2 years ago

    Surprisesd, I thought Gabe hated the Mac almost as much as the Playstation brand

    ... and Valve have been talking favourably about PS3 development recently, too.

  • lucky_jim #15 2 years ago

    This would be cool. But unlike me, most Mac users are on Intel machines now, where they can just install Windows for gaming and use OS X for everything else. I suspect that Steam won't support older PowerPC Macs like mine, as they're increasingly unsupported by everyone. Does make me wonder what the point is.

    If GOG rolled out widespread Mac support, I'd be more excited. But maybe that's cos I'm old.

  • Les #16 2 years ago

    "Does make me wonder what the point is."

    For me playing games in OS X would be a huge benefit. I don't like working in Windows and constantly rebooting gets old pretty fast. Bootcamp was one of factors in my "go for Mac" decision but it's better in theory than in practice. Once you've experienced OS X it's hard to go back. So now I use Parallels for my work applications while my PC games gather dust.

    Steam on Mac might stimulate developers to port more games to Mac or even better: make OpenGL games instead of DirectX ones.
    Edited by 1 at 25/02/10 @ 13:13

  • makeamazing #17 2 years ago

    This will actually improve the sales of games on the mac, so its a good thing.

    I am moving over to a mac (going to use parallels for any special windows apps i have (such as accounting software... but i would like steam on mac rather than using it on the parallels system

  • superdelphinus #18 2 years ago

    it will have to have a special bit of code in it that delays release dates and doubles the default price

  • StooMonster #19 2 years ago

    I thought Gabe hated the Mac almost as much as the Playstation brand.

    No, he said that Valve talked to Apple on regular basis; but in his opinion Apple were not taking things seriously, as every time they sent over different team of people who had no idea of previous conversations.

    Steve Jobs notoriously hates computer games, which is one reason why Apple OS X doesn't do more to support gaming -- and another reason why there's a lack of gaming GPU compatibility with Macs. The success of games on iPhones was a complete shock to Apple, as it was completely unplanned, but they're not stupid (no one sitting on US$40-billion cash with US$182-billion Market Cap is stupid) so they're coming round to the idea that even if they hate games their customers do not.

    There's also a rumour that Apple asked Valve to port Half-Life 2 to Mac [edit: to Mac, not to Steam], and after previous shenanigans, Gabe said he wanted US$2-million up-front.
    Edited by 1 at 25/02/10 @ 14:47

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #20 2 years ago

    even better: make OpenGL games instead of DirectX ones

    Man, being a graphics API layer fanboy is even sadder than being a platform fanboy.

    And yes, PS3 runs OpenGL ES 2, as do many new high-end mobile phones.

  • Shakey_Jake33 #21 2 years ago

    Why the negativity from certain people? Is a Mac version of Steam somehow a bad thing? Maybe this'll kickstart Mac gaming, maybe it won't. I can't see this as anything but a good thing though.

  • gjgjg #22 2 years ago

    @Les "I don't like working in Windows and constantly rebooting gets old pretty fast."

    I've used PCs since the dawn of (windows) time. this complaint that you need to reboot all the time from Mac persons just doesnt fit as i've never had any trouble like this (nothing that would want me to switch over). Why do u need to keep rebooting your machines?

    ps. if ur curious i use my pc for photo/video/audio editing, gaming, office stuff etc. usually on XP (granted MSvista and 2000 were poo but not all OS's have been great either).

    pss.sorry if this starts a flame war (no im not)

  • Les #23 2 years ago

    "Why do u need to keep rebooting your machines?"

    Guess there's a bit of confusion: I was responding to a comment that with bootcamp there's little need for OS X Steam. I use OS X for pretty much all tasks and Windows only for work (via Parallels) and the occasional game. Using bootcamp for games means that I have to reboot before and after each play session. That takes much of the spontaneity out of PC gaming and is one of the reasons I hardly ever do it any more. Which is a shame with excellent games such as the Total War series on my Steam account.

  • Les #24 2 years ago

    "Man, being a graphics API layer fanboy is even sadder than being a platform fanboy."

    ?!

  • Raya #25 2 years ago

    using bootcamp/mac os with blue tooth mouse! Now that is a pain

  • sneetch #26 2 years ago

    @Les
    "Man, being a graphics API layer fanboy is even sadder than being a platform fanboy."

    Obviously, if you make any suggestion mentioning any tech that means you're a fanboy of that tech. ;)

    It would make sense to develop OpenGL software as that could be better ported to other platforms including Mac, Linux, PS3 and Wii. I presume there are facade APIs that you can develop to that can be backed by DirectX or OpenGL but is the OpenGL toolkit anywhere near DirectX in terms of features I wonder?

  • actionfitz #27 2 years ago

    Well, steam sell loads of small games like Plants vs Zombie etc which wouldnt be out of place on a mac.
    I remember Bungie used to release mac/pc games simultaneously.

  • flaming.carrot #28 2 years ago

    Plants vs Zombies is on the mac, and a surprising number of other games - Braid, Civilisation 4, COD4 Modern Warfare being a few off the top of my head. It's just difficult to find them - so Steam could be great. Not to mention, I'm sure many developers are put off creating mac games because of a lack of delivery methods and non-existant shelf space in stores.

  • Les #29 2 years ago

    "Not to mention, I'm sure many developers are put off creating mac games because of a lack of delivery methods and non-existant shelf space in stores."

    Good point.

  • Turambar #30 2 years ago

    Are these pieces of Mac OSX code part of Steam or part of the already multiplatform WebKit software that is now part of Steam?

  • Sharzam #31 2 years ago

    A linux version would be good, on my laptop i run it under wine at the moment but it does have problems with scrolling down so i cant select things near the top. And there are a suprising amount of games out there that use open GL/AL which is fully compatiblie with linux.

    If there is mac version in the works it stands to reason that a linux version isnt far behind as they have a simlier Unix structure.

  • AOFanboi #32 2 years ago

    You cannot just focus on OpenGL, because DirectX has an X which stands for a lot of other things. OpenGL covers Direct3D, then you have DirectDraw, DirectSound, DirectMusic DirectPlay, DirectInput, and with version 10.1 they are adding DirectKitchenSink.

    There are evolving "open-ish" alternatives for most of them I guess, but things take time.

  • StooMonster #33 2 years ago

    I remember Bungie used to release mac/pc games simultaneously.

    I remember when Bungie was a Mac developer.

  • cheekyjay #34 2 years ago

    I remember when Bungie were developing a flagship third person action RTS... "Halo" I think it was called. Supposedly it was going to do great things for Mac gaming... Wonder what came of it?