Steam for Linux Confirmed; Now Live for Mac OSX

News
By Marcus Yam
published

Steam is growing to more platforms. This is a Good Thing.

Steam is available for Mac users today, extending one of PC gaming's best online services to those gaming on aluminum-clad machines from Apple.

"Steam has been a service exclusively for PC users since we launched it in 2004. For the first time we and our partners are bringing it to another platform," Valve wrote in its news section. "It's been a ton of work, but the Mac is great for the same reason the PC is great - they are both open systems that let gamers and game developers be as close as possible."

Those who have PC games purchased on a PC account will automatically get the rights to the authorized Mac versions when they sign in.

Equally as big is word that Steam and the Source engine are being ported to Linux. First evidence of a Linux port appeared in a beta version for the Mac, and now it's been confirmed, reported Phoronix.

Thanks to Steam, the gaming market for Mac and Linux users just got much, much bigger and better.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
54 Comments Comment from the forums
  • flyinfinni
    SWEET! Steam on Linux could really be a game changer for a lot of people!
    Reply
  • AMDnoob
    And now they're taking Linux and Mac gamers into their best interests as well. I don't think Apple would be so generous.
    Reply
  • AMDnoob
    Now if Apple had Valve under its belt none of this PROGRESS would happen. They'd box it up and keep it under their watchful eye monitoring every move. But with a free thinking and fun company like Valve they expand with PC gamers in their best interest.
    Reply
  • dwave
    If more games start getting ported over, Linux will definably become a more viable platform. Games still keeps me tied to Windows.
    Reply
  • lunosnyper
    Does this mean that any game on steam can be played on Lunix or just the ones with the source engine? This is awesome ether way. I knew it wouldn't be much of a step to get it on linux after they put it on MAC but i didn't think they would accually do it yay.
    Reply
  • ehanger
    too bad 95% of the crapple computers won't be able to play any of the games due to their their vastly overpriced and outdated hardware.
    Reply
  • boogalooelectric
    I have just made the recent switch to dual boot systems running first Karmic Koala ubuntu and now Lucid Lynx and I LOVE LINUX now, the only thing from keeping me on a dual boot system is the occasional game I like to play which is becoming less frequent.

    Now if this really happens than I will switch over completely, I have played around with the virtual machines line Wine and the one by Oracle but its still not the same.

    This is friggen sweet.
    Reply
  • boogalooelectric
    Hey Marcus can you put a pic up with the Half life dude wearing a penguin on his chest or something that fits the spirit of this awesome news?
    Reply
  • victomofreality
    You knew once they bridged to Mac it was only a matter of time... although it's faster then I had anticipated.
    Reply
  • tserich
    Awesome! This is a great! Steam is #1
    Reply