Valve has released a standalone Steam Link app on the Apple MacOS App Store, adding a new option for Mac users who want to play games on machines that are often referred to as bad game choices.
Steam Link allows users to stream games from a gaming PC to a compatible device on the same local network and play those games with an MFI or Steam controller.
Valve has already offered a full Steam app for macOS, but it takes up 1GB of space and has a reputation for being cumbersome. Instead, the Steam Link app has a minimalist interface that appears to be designed with the game controller’s peripherals in mind.
Valve previously offered a Steam Link app for iOS and iPadOS, but this is the first time the company has released software through Apple’s MacOS App Store. (The full version of Steam is available to download from the web, not from the App Store.)
The game broadcast had a somewhat tumultuous story on Apple’s mobile platforms, but it was a bit more pink on the macOS side. The same streaming features that Steam Link offers were already possible through the full Steam app for macOS, GeForce Now has a Mac client, and Mac users have long appreciated the ability to stream PlayStation games with a basic app. .
Usually, Mac games It has had ups and downs over the years and lately the trend is down. Apple’s transition from OpenGL to Metal has resulted in much better performance for games whose developers have struggled to support it, but lately we’ve seen fewer Mac ports for triple-A games.
However, many independent countries still support the Mac, and with the introduction of Macs with processors and GPUs that share a chip architecture on the iPhone and iPad, Apple has opened the door for iOS and iPadOS games to run. natively on newer Macs.
In any case, our own tests The IOS and iPadOS games on M1 Macs released last year showed things to be pretty rough, interface issues and other limitations make the experience lackluster. As a result, macOS currently feels caught between the two vast worlds of PC gaming and iPhone gaming, but it’s not entirely inclined to become an optimal platform for either of them.
Steam Link allows users to play modern and next-generation games on a MacBook Air or similar, as long as they have a powerful Windows gaming PC on the same local network.