What’s interesting about this is that you can play the Mac version of your purchased PC games using the same license. Just download the game from Steam to your Mac and it’ll work. This is an excellent idea, and hopefully other developers will follow suit.
I’m not sure if this will convince many PC gamers to switch to the Mac though. Macs are expensive as gaming platforms in comparison (Macs are more expensive in other areas too, but you generally don’t need to upgrade non gaming machines as often). I can see Valve contributing to someone’s decision if they were going to get a machine primarily for non gaming purposes, and just wanted to play a few games on the side.
As a Mac user, I’m curious to see where they’ll go with this, and if the Mac OS will eventually be considered a serious contender to Windows for gaming.
Switch? Of course not. But it’s pretty cool for Mac owners to finally get Valve’s games. But just because Valve will do it doesn’t mean more companies will follow. I mean, Blizzard is just as “big” as Valve in PC gaming (with less games but bigger sellers) and they offer their games for Mac as well, right? I don’t think that caused others to follow though.
The difference here is now developers now have the Steam content delivery system to work with. Steam is popular on the PC, so a Mac version may encourage more developers to put their games on the Mac.
In any case, competition is good, so I for one hope that Steam for Mac helps turn it into a more considerable gaming platform. PC/Windows gaming doesn’t really have any other direct competitors.
They had the same delivery channels they do on PC previously as well though. What stopped them from having their boxed games up on the other DD services, since they’re web-based and I’m sure Macs can download files just as well? Or include the Mac build on the DVDs they sell in games stores?
This competition is between the OS developers, Apple and Microsoft, which may help better each OS, I don’t think it will have much of an effect in competition in the games industry. If Mac becomes a more popular gaming platform then developers will put out more Mac versions of their games. It broadens their market, I don’t see how it will make them more competitive and against who? Publishers are in competition with each other, not the OS manufacturers. Edited to make this clearer, hard to explain I guess.
I’m sure it was possible, but Steam makes the whole scenario more attractive because, well, it’s Steam.
Also, Macs have been increasing in popularity lately, so with Steam for Mac, developers may start showing more interest in the platform. The way I see it, Valve is helping lead the way.
If Mac gaming took off, it might encourage Microsoft to make Windows gaming better (e.g. more games - stop putting them all on Xbox!), make better development tools, etc. Of course, it could have the reverse effect of fragmenting the market as well.