The Mac as a Gaming Platform, the New Era
Macs will become an alternative and viable game platform... and there is nothing you can do about it.
Boy, was there an outrage over Valve’s decision to port its popular games and offer its Steam distribution for the Mac. Since Steam is estimated to account for 70% of online game purchases, this is one major announcement. But if you think about it, such news was just a matter of when, not if. As much as you may be a PC game enthusiast, you will have to live with the fact that Macs are running more and more games. But it does not take much to predict that Macs will never become enthusiast gaming machines. Valve and Apple are working on the bigger piece of the pie.
Slow down. Before leaving an angry comment without reading further, hear me out. Valve’s announcement makes sense and is good news for the gaming community and I am sure that other distributors will follow soon.
History
Gaming on the Mac is not really new. In fact, the first Mac games date back to the late 1970s and include titles such as Global War, Asteroids in Space, Flight Simulator, and Dog Fight. The number of Mac titles never equaled the number of PC games, but there were blockbusters and advanced titles as well. Remember Defender of the Crown (1988), Myst (1993), Sim City 2000 (1993), Wolfenstein 3D (1994), Descent (1995), Command and Conquer (1996), and Diablo (1997)? Even good ole Duke Nukem (1997) was available for the Mac.
A look at the Mac games archive has titles such as BioShock, DragonAge, and Guitar Hero in its library. The list is not as extensive as what you can buy for the PC and certainly not as cutting edge. But it isn’t as bad as you might think if you are a dedicated PC user.
The Mac Apple Has Issues
If you're a gamer and have spent time with Macs, you may begin to see why Valve's move makes incredible sense. In the end, the Mac is exactly what game developers look for: a locked-down hardware platform that provides structure and predictability, not unlike consoles. A Mac offers more flexibility than a console does, but without the mess of the Wintel world.
Of course, Macs never had the volume of PC sales, and if we believe Web-analytics firm Net Applications, the market share of Mac computers stands at about 5% globally. But Apple has sold about 10.4 million Macs over the past four quarters. It seems that Mac market share is still increasing and Gartner analysts actually estimated Apple’s market share of total PC sales at almost 9% in late 2009, while IDC published a number closer to 9.5%.
Then, there’s the Mac buyer, who is typically very interested in digital content and sees a Mac much more as an entertainment platform than a PC buyer does. I am not going to guess whether the Mac or PC buyer is more likely to spend money for digital content, but let’s face it, Apple has done a fabulous job in convincing Mac owners to purchase plenty of extra content and services for their computers and gadgets. iTunes has grown up because of Mac owners, not because of PC buyers and their jealousy that the iPod has not been available for the PC initially.
So, if the Mac isn’t the problem, what is? Simple: it’s Apple.
The Mac is not an especially easy platform for which to develop games. It has become a bit easier to create Mac games since the transition to Intel chips, but Apple could care less about game developers who want to create Mac-compatible titles. The main reasons why there are not more Mac games out there are due to Mac OS X, the lack of developer tools, such as the DirectX SDK on Windows; and graphics hardware that simply does not run the latest and greatest. Hate Microsoft as much as you want, the fact is that games on Windows have been a focus at Microsoft since Windows 95. When was the last time you heard Steve Jobs talking about support for game developers on Mac OS X? Graphics cards and Macs are a sad story, but as long as Steve Jobs calls the next iMac the most gorgeous iMac ever, we all are willing to accept mediocre graphics performance, right?
Valve: Solving The Apple Problem The Apple Way
About two and a half years ago, there was an interesting interview with Gabe Newell, Valve's founder and managing director, that briefly touched on the topic of gaming on Macs. Keep in mind that Intel was already on the platform at the time and companies such as Valve actively explored Macs as a new target market.
Newell told a writer from Kikizio.com (now Videogamesdaily.com) that he had tried to work with Apple, but there was virtually no interest in Cupertino to get Valve games running on a Mac. Valve has never been taken serious by Apple. “They seem to think that they want to do gaming, but there's never any follow-through on any of the things they say they're going to do,” Newell said. “That makes it hard to be excited about doing games for their platforms.”
We have not received any information about whether Apple’s attitude has changed in the meantime, but it seems that Valve has followed through. I was told that Valve is taking this experiment all the way and plans to launch all of its future game titles simultaneously on the PC and Mac. Portal 2 will be the first game to benefit from this strategy. And we also know that Valve will offer its blockbusters Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series for the Mac.
It isn’t difficult to see why Valve is finally pushing forward with Mac games. In a way, Steam is a natural fit for the Mac and Apple customers might feel right at home with Steam. The concept of purchase, download, and play sounds familiar and a lot like iTunes. Valve has an easy-to use Apple-like product and is now extending it to the Mac. It’s a perfectly reasonable business decision.
You could have expected Apple to make a similar move in the future with iTunes, but especially those users who own a Mac and a PC may be grateful that Valve is leading the way. If Steam supports a game, users will be able to switch between Macs and PCs as game platforms and pick up games exactly where they have left off without losing any progress. It is a bit of a stretch to imagine that Steve Jobs would have approved such a feature.
Conclusion: In Apple’s Slipstream, Valve Leads The Way
Anyone who claims that gaming isn’t important to Apple has been living under a rock for two years. The iPod Touch and the iPhone have captured substantial gaming market share and the iPad will extend Apple’s reach in this segment. But it isn’t exactly Valve territory and it surely isn’t high-end gaming.
Apple is after mass-market gaming, not after the enthusiast. The Mac isn’t exactly an enthusiast gaming machine as its closed architecture and limited availability prevent it from becoming a platform that runs the most-demanding video games and there is little I can see that will change this scenario. As much as Apple disregards Intel’s official product-launch dates virtually every time it launches a new iMac or Mac Pro, it doesn’t really help the graphics performance that the latest games really need. And once you have purchased a Mac, you are unlikely to upgrade it anyway.
However, Apple’s march into gaming and its continued marketing pitch about how well the handheld devices work with certain games can only help Valve to expand this vision to the traditional desktop. Indeed, Valve may even help Apple make the Mac a much more attractive gaming platform and create more hardware choices for Mac buyers. Valve’s model is exemplary in that it brings gaming to the Mac community and accommodates both Mac and PC platforms. The future is wide open for Valve and I am glad Valve has made this effort and will provide the game community with more choices. The future will tell if the strategy will work out, but Valve has a good shot at success.
Wolfgang Gruener is a technology journalist and analyst. He was managing editor for Tom’s Hardware news from 2003 to 2005, before launching and acquiring TG Daily. Today, Wolfgang works with startups and publishes his thoughts and analysis on critical and emerging technologies and products at conceivablytech.com.
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go steam
the title made me giggle.... no further comment
I dont have a mac, and never used one. But I believe this is a good move for Valve. I've never viewed mac as a gaming platform. But this can change things, and maybe somehow create some competition.. And competition is good for us.
Sure, from the business end it seems like a good decision, and for one developer, all of whose games run on a fairly unified engine, it may be viable. For the rest of the developers, especially with more demanding titles, this isn't true. Apple can't continue in it's current practice and adopt gaming as a feature to put on the box...they've got to give up something about the aspect of their hardware and business models in order to not give up gaming. Better hardware in more timely intervals, combined with more open software and developer controls - these demands, combined with the classically-radical and immobile nature of Apple will make it a long time before you'll see games (on the PC level) on the Mac, if ever. The rest of the developers are on stand-by, waiting for Valve to get the hard work (which is several years, if you ask me) done with Apple, then they'll all come flooding through the door saying "me too!".
And then, finally, the Apple users will complain about their machines. "What do you mean a 130M can't play Crysis? It's a Mac!"
If they start making Mac exclusives all hell will break loose.
Also, wasn't there something about Steam coming to Linux?
I always kinda thought that Apple didnt want games released on their OS because then their customers might realize what over-priced p.o.s's they own. "Why cant my $2000 computer play this game?" That just might ruin the Apple "experience" a little.
I dont really see this doing much for Steam other than getting them a bit more sales $$. Apple's target market doesnt include gamers; therefore how many people do you think will start gaming on a mac now that steam is working for them? When shopping for a computer, if someone thinks that they might game a little, theyve already stopped looking at Apple systems. Doubt steam being on available on Mac's will change that since people still have to swallow the Apple tax to get a mac (that will no doubt, have much worse hardware in it that a equivalently priced PC)
We don't know the amount of money involved in development, distribution, management, and marketing spent on the steam client/games for Mac now, but I really question if it's worth it since there really aren't a huge amount of people using Macs compared to PC's.
But could it play Crysis
Apple's current business model will prevent it from ever competing in the gaming market. Why spend $2,000 for an Apple computer when you can spend $1500 for something with better hardware that will play the game so much better?
..and enough with the Crysis jokes...just annoying.
I'm concerned that this is going to further dumb down PC gaming. If Apple somehow makes it easier (hence cheaper) to develop games on their platform, what's going to stop studios from building a Mac game from the ground up and then porting it to PC? Quality is going to hit a brick wall. Look at what happened with the console explosion- tons of crappy ports with a few gems here and there.
And not only that, you can bet this will raise the price of video games in general. Remember when new PC games were released at around $39-$49? Not any more. $60+ is becoming the average for big-name releases because console owners are willing to pay that much, and PC gamers are now getting stuck with those insane prices. Apple getting into the market is going to increase the price on premium releases.
got to love valve!
I remember all of those games you mentioned. I wasted many school hours on those
Seriously though, I don't think that $2000 locked platform makes sense for gaming. The PS3 couldn't even sell at $599. Not to mention that 90% or more of apple computer owners are using laptops.
Well, the picture of "big titles" might not change for a few years from now (thinking also in Linux), but Indie games might get a full (big bang a like) growth, that's all in all a good thing fro everyone. More Dev Studios working on different platforms at a time make knowledge easier to spread.
Go Valve!
Cheers!
I can definitely see Apple making a break in the gaming market, but they need to fix several things.
- They need a new version of their Mac Pro. Dump the Xeon processor, and pick up the i5/i7. The Xeon is a great processor, but not cost effective enough for a gaming machine. Then offer some better GPU options for gaming. In my opinion, the iMac will never be able to become a gaming machine in its current state, the case design just doesn't offer enough cooling options.
- They need to push out updates to their graphics drivers. I'm sure ATI & nvidia will be willing to do this if there is money to be made for them. But the current Snow Leopard graphics drivers haven't been updated since June '09.
- They need to more openly adopt OpenGL, perhaps even create a SDK that will use OpenGL to create games on a Mac. Microsoft will never allow DirectX to leave the Windows platform, so they're forced to use OpenGL. OpenGL is great but still isn't up to par to the D3D API. Good news about this... if Apple pushes OpenGL development forward, we'll see it appear on Linux as well.
All said and done, I think there is a great opportunity for Apple to make a huge foot into the gaming world, but probably never the enthusiast part of this world.
Do I think Apple will take the opportunity? I'm not holding my breath.
I remember all of those games you mentioned. I wasted many school hours on those Seriously though, I don't think that $2000 locked platform makes sense for gaming. The PS3 couldn't even sell at $599. Not to mention that 90% or more of apple computer owners are using laptops.
Dont forget, the average gaming rig (running games at 1080P- PS3's and XBoxes do 720 and 540)cost ~USD600 or so....very few tigs actually cross USD1000...
I can definitely see Apple making a break in the gaming market, but they need to fix several things.- They need a new version of their Mac Pro. Dump the Xeon processor, and pick up the i5/i7. The Xeon is a great processor, but not cost effective enough for a gaming machine. Then offer some better GPU options for gaming. In my opinion, the iMac will never be able to become a gaming machine in its current state, the case design just doesn't offer enough cooling options.- They need to push out updates to their graphics drivers. I'm sure ATI & nvidia will be willing to do this if there is money to be made for them. But the current Snow Leopard graphics drivers haven't been updated since June '09.- They need to more openly adopt OpenGL, perhaps even create a SDK that will use OpenGL to create games on a Mac. Microsoft will never allow DirectX to leave the Windows platform, so they're forced to use OpenGL. OpenGL is great but still isn't up to par to the D3D API. Good news about this... if Apple pushes OpenGL development forward, we'll see it appear on Linux as well.All said and done, I think there is a great opportunity for Apple to make a huge foot into the gaming world, but probably never the enthusiast part of this world.Do I think Apple will take the opportunity? I'm not holding my breath.
You missed out on upgrades. And the fact that Apple will never let you use radically fast hardware. Do you really think Apple will let someone run quad 5870's? Or even dual 4850's? And what about upgrades? IN two years time I can easily change my 4870 for a 5970 or a GT400 without any problems whatsoever. Or dump a PHII X6 on the mobo. Apple will never do anything like that....
If they start making Mac exclusives all hell will break loose.
Valve is trying to expand its market share, not limit it with a mac exclusive
how long till jobs gets at newel and the deal goes south?
so basically only the valve games are going to mac? is that what everyones excited about? what is that like 10 games the half-life series, CS series L4D series, hahahaah this made me laugh
All 10 being epic great games. I'd say that's something to be excited about.
Wow and I thought solitaire was laggy on the mac
I'll take a positive outlook (hating Macs as much as I do). If Apple made a computer that could do everything my Win machines can do...including gaming....I would buy one in a heartbeat. It would be the same case if linux spontaneously started running win games.
Leaving candy-land I don't think this will ever happen. Macs have never had the foundation to "share" titles with Win machines cause Apple likes to keep everything locked up in the family.
It's just a natural progression for Valve. There are three markets dependent on OpenGL and their last attempt at reaching one of them failed when they allowed EA to do the legwork. They don't want that to happen again, nor do they want to abandon the platform as a market for their games.
Since the big hurdle for Valve getting games on the PS3 has been to rewrite Source for OpenGL, once they decided to invest in PS3 development, the much-easier-to-code-for OSX and Linux platforms got dragged along for the ride.
Maybe this will mean higher sales on desktop computer games, so developers will be more inclined to work on desktop games instead of giving us console ports.
I predict most of the developers will be too stubborn to jump aboard in any timely fashion, but still I'm glad to see that Macs have evolved from an overpriced work computer to an actual "personal computer". I myself am an avid PC builder, but I see the potential. Macs don't have ancient hardware like the xbox 360, but it does have the constant on hardware. They won't match the value or sheer performance of most enthusiast PCs, but this is definitely a noteworthy option (if you have $2000 laying around
)
Actually isn't the 'Can it play Crysis' question pretty fair here? The question is literally, can it PLAY Crysis, not run it at full. I can buy a PC (sans monitor and OS, I have those) for under $400 that will run it at a decent resolution on medium graphics. Exactly as someone said, could it be that Mac owners will wonder why their $1000+ computers are performing so horribly? Granted, on current Source games, probably not. Maybe a little on L4D2, not sure how the GT320s or whatevers perform.
But even then, it is asking developers to code their engines on a whole new API (if they don't support OpenGL already), and that's quite a bit to do, especially for most likely lower performance (hardware, OpenGL is a capable platform), and probably less market.
We'll see, it'll definitely be interesting. I will definitely chuckle if it doesn't pick up very well.
Good riddance this is a mac boy's WET Dream a hand full of games vs decades of titles that can still be played on the PC. One can go on all day about the Mac's limitation which are purely artificial thanks to Apple and it's closed market policy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB4jFuTuNWg
Female voice: What's wrong?
Man on monitor: I just bought one of these yesterday, and it doesn't fit my consumer, and the store doesn't have any of the other kind.
[LUH presses a button]
Male voice: For more enjoyment and greater efficiency, consumption is being standardized. We are sorry ...
Man on monitor: This is -
[cut off]
Meh, it is what it is. PC will always have a 1-up on any gaming platform just due to the ability to customize hardware.
$2000 for Mac (to serve as a gaming platform) that can barely compete with a $1000 PC from two years ago. I'd say we entered a new era indeed. It appears the recession magically ended, everyone is working again, and making more money than ever. I just wish I got that memo sooner.
/sarcasm
Wow that's a lot of writing.
Me, I just want less time spent on developing for Macs/Consoles and more time spent developing for PCs.
$2000 for Mac (to serve as a gaming platform) that can barely compete with a $1000 PC from two years ago. I'd say we entered a new era indeed. It appears the recession magically ended, everyone is working again, and making more money than ever. I just wish I got that memo sooner. /sarcasm
Agreed and it seams that every one has a high way or a bridge to sell.
@godwhomismike I agree, also for some reason I'll spend an extra $1000 to get a less powerful GPU and restrict myself to play only Steam distributed titles... yes it makes sense, I'll go sell my Xbox360 and my PC right now 'cause now I can play on a Mac ! yay !
You gotta be kidding me.
What's it cost to buy a Mac that keeps up with the $750 budget PC that this web site tells you how to configure? $2,500? $3,000?
It's valve's way to simply squeeze more money outta a 3 year old game.