Apple MacBook is one of the best laptops you can buy if you are looking for durability and performance. But it does come short when it comes to gaming.
At least a few years back, MacBooks were seen as only work-specific laptops. They weren’t suitable for gaming as many game developers weren’t open to developing games on Apple’s ecosystem.
Now that Steam has been available on Mac since 2010 and the recent MacBook Pro comes with a good enough configuration for gaming, the real question looms, can you really play steam games on Mac?
I have been on Mac for some time and tested some of the Steam games available on MacBook. And to help out a fellow user, I am here to answer your queries so that you don’t have to go anywhere else.
So keep reading till the end to get your desired answers.
Can You Play Steam Games On Mac?
It is possible to play Steam games on a Mac. Despite the fact that Steam was first released for Windows only. However, by the year 2010, the gaming platform opened the door for Apple’s Mac. Since then, Steam games have been ported over to the macOS platform.
MacBook is not famous for gaming. I mean, many would come out and say that MacBook probably is the worst device to play games on.
Well, they are not obviously right but not wholly wrong, either. They do have a bad reputation when it comes to gaming. We will jump onto that later but let’s talk about Steam and it’s support on Mac.
As I said earlier, Steam has been available on Mac since the early 2010s. In the earlier days, steam was quite unusable on Mac because of a lack of users and reports.
When Steam started to gain popularity on Mac, many users started to join in and faced plenty of bugs. But the steam dev team was quite fast in resolving them and making the application more user-friendly for Mac users, which was the initial goal of Steam.
But the biggest problem with Steam and Mac is that there aren’t many games to play on the platform. Although the games that are available on the platform will perform in a similar manner as they perform on windows or console.
For example, the new MacBook Pro can go over 120 FPS on high settings while playing the Counter strike global offensive. So you do not have to worry about the performance of the games that are available for Mac on the Steam platform.
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How do I Run a Steam Game on Mac?
You can run Steam games on Mac by downloading and installing the Steam application. You will be able to download and play games from the steam platform that is available for the macOS platform. However, the game performance depends on the MacBook you are using.
In 2022, we can surely say that Macbooks are slowly making their mark in the gaming industry. We are not too far from the day when Macs will be considered a gaming platform alongside windows and consoles.
Even a few years back, there were hardly any games available for the Mac platform. But thanks to Steam, some developers are making their games available on the macOS.
But the room for improvement is still there. Now let’s look at how you can run a steam game on mac.
There are a few ways you can run steam games on your Mac. The safest and easiest option is to download the Steam application from Mac. But there are other third-party options as well.
Follow the steps to run steam games on Mac:
1. Install Steam for Mac
You can easily install Steam on your Mac and play the steam games from there.
Follow the steps to run a steam game on Mac using steam:
- Go to the official website of Steam.
- Download the steam version for Mac.
- Install the Application.
- Launch the application.
- Go to the library.
- Select the Apple logo.
- Download and Install the games from the list.
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The game library is the only downside of using the Steam application on your Mac. You will be disappointed by the fact that there aren’t actually that many games available for Mac. But you can still play games like CS: GO, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI Anthology and Terraria.
2. Play Steam games via streaming
Thanks to the Internet, we can now stream games on your Mobile, Desktop & Laptop. In a similar way, we stream movies and songs.
There are many subscription-based streaming platforms for streams, and one of them is Shadow. With this paid streaming service, you may access a Windows PC and play Windows games on your Mac. You also could play games you purchased previously by installing gaming stores like Steam, Origin, or Epic Games Store.
On the other hand, If you want to play Non-steam games, then you can install the Xcloud application by Microsoft, which will allow you to play a lot of AAA games on your Mac. Geforce now, Amazon’s Luna is also available on Mac.
So if you have a stable internet connection, you don’t have to worry about anything else. Just stream the game directly on your Mac!
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Are Macs good for gaming?
No, Macs aren’t the best option for gaming. However, the MacBook Pro comes with a really good configuration, and with a similar level of configuration, you should be able to play games with ease. Still, the problem lies in developers making their way to make games for Mac.
Still, to this day, Windows is the preferred platform for gaming. One of the main reasons is how readily it is available for developers to make games on it and because of it’s huge user base.
Now don’t trust the rumors that Macs cannot handle the pressure of game intensity, which is why you aren’t able to play games on Mac, which is obviously not true. MacBooks with M1 chips are one of the most powerful devices available on the market.
The main reason is that few developers natively make games available on Mac. And there are hardly any AAA game developers who are making games for Mac.
Well, it is not like developers aren’t interested in making their games available on MacBooks. It’s just that Apple’s macOS is so restrictive that developers have hardly any room to work with. Apple MacBook doesn’t support Vulkan API, which makes it hard for developers to work with Apple and make their games available on macOS.
On the other hand, Apple went out of its way to block any type of Nvidia support, which is another reason developers don’t have enough room to develop games for MacBooks.
Another factor is that the macOS user base is only 14% where, whereas Windows is on global 74%. So obviously, developers are willing to make games available for a platform that is going to be profitable for them.
The only reason MacBooks aren’t good for gaming is because of the native support of the games. If Apple gives enough room for the developers to work, maybe someday we can finally end say the MacBooks are an ideal option for gaming.
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Final Thoughts
It is still a long way to go for Macs to be held as a gaming device. But the early days of the new MacBooks are quite promising as they possess one of the best specs available in the tech industry.
Thanks to Steam and it’s availability, people can play some of the best-selling games on Steam on their Macs. Hopefully, the game library for the Mac will go bigger in the future, and we will be able to witness the true potential of Macs in gaming.
What’s your thought about this topic? Write down in the comment box.
