Mac mini M4 is 4.15% of Steam Mac users, next most popular M2 Mac mini 0.94%

[axu2]

• Mac mini M4: 4.15%
• Mac mini M4 Pro: 0.78%
• Mac mini M2: 0.94%
• Mac mini M2 Pro: 0.47%
• All other Mac mini: 1.36%

• M1 and older don't show up in the survey, so making an assumption.
  https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam?platform=mac

Overall, mac is 2% of steam users. Above percents are only of mac users.

 

[!!!]

Mac mini M4 Pro: 0.78%

I am part of this percentage, finally got a survey pop-up the other day.

I'm surprised Mac has continued to decline on Steam, I would've thought the M-series would have made gaming more popular on macOS given the performance increases. Maybe most people were playing old 32-bit games that no longer work?

 

[MysteriousStain]

The loss of 32bit gaming was pretty massive. Also, series that used to support Mac in the beginning started dropping it by the end (Witcher, Lego and Trine are three I know of)

 

[yellowhelicopter]

I'm surprised Mac has continued to decline on Steam, I would've thought the M-series would have made gaming more popular on macOS given the performance increases.

Many just don't know they can play huge number of modern Windows games on recent M machines thanks to translation with low overhead. I'm personally able to play almost all of the modern and demanding Windows games I'm interested on MM M4 just fine, like Alan Wake 2, RDR 2, Silent Hill 2 Remake, Cronos The New Dawn, ROUTINE, Elden Ring etc etc etc.. And it also can run almost all Switch games. It's tiny, cheap (base model), and consumes under 65W, so it's really great for gaming IMO, quite reminds me of gaming console actually. But not many know about its hidden capabilities, I mean its ability to play recent and upcoming Windows games.

 

[maflynn]

I would've thought the M-series would have made gaming more popular on macOS given the performance increases.

Its declining, because publishers/developers do not consider macs a viable gaming machine. People who game, do not consider Macs a viable gaming machine. Apple does not consider Macs a viable gaming machine, otherwise they would do more then the token efforts of making videos.

The only people who think Macs are viable gaming machines, is a subset of Mac owners, i.e., not ever mac owner wants to game, I'd probably say most do not.

 

[maflynn]

Let me add further information.
The only viable way to game on the Mac is to use Crossover (which I use), but because that's emulation, performance is significantly impacted. I tried playing a number of Bethesda titles, on a M4 Pro Mini, and the games were barely playable. Performance was so bad playing those games, I returned the M4 Pro, and got a M4 Max Studio.

I paid about 1800 (give or take a hundred), and its one of the best desktop computers I've owned but if gaming was my only need, that was a poor use of my money (for 2025). While gaming within Crossover is good on the M4 Max, a 2,000 dollar gaming pc would have yielded superior results.

My point is because we need to use crossover and the increased demand due to the emulation this largely eliminates many mac models from being able to play AAA games (within crossover).

 

[TumbleDryer]

Yeh when 32bit support was dropped a great many developers never updated their Mac versions. Now the hardware is up to scratch however even less developers are interested in the Mac because Apple make it difficult for them by dropping/changing support of core technologies after a while.

I've even noticed that some relatively successful games that were on the Mac. The Long Dark, Subnautica for example are now working on sequels that are Windows only which is a shame. Cities Skylines 2 PC only too although from reviews its crap anyway.

Only Apple can fix this by going all in and making their own kickass games that really show off what can be done on a Mac to get interest from gamers and in turn developers. To be honest I'm surprised Tim Apple hasn't gone this route with the money that can be made from a successful franchise.

 

[!!!]

Its declining, because publishers/developers do not consider macs a viable gaming machine. People who game, do not consider Macs a viable gaming machine. Apple does not consider Macs a viable gaming machine

These were always the case, at least since the Intel Macs came about

The only viable way to game on the Mac is to use Crossover

Not really. Factorio runs great as a native arm game, Civ5 works fine (incredibly they recompiled the 2010 game for 64-bit intel). As do other games. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm hoping Stray will run nicely on my M4 Pro.

I tried playing a number of Bethesda titles, on a M4 Pro Mini, and the games were barely playable

I guess it depends on the games you play. What I can say is that the M-series GPUs are far more powerful than the Intel integrated graphics we used to have in most Macs.

I paid about 1800 (give or take a hundred), and its one of the best desktop computers I've owned but if gaming was my only need, that was a poor use of my money

Certainly. That's why I have my gaming machine's specs in my signature. But on the go I'm glad I can play factorio at 60fps without carrying a bulky "gaming" laptop.

 

[maflynn]

Not really. Factorio runs great as a native arm game, Civ5 works fine (incredibly they recompiled the 2010 game for 64-bit intel). As do other games. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm hoping Stray will run nicely on my M4 Pro.

Yes, there are some AAA games that can be played natively on a mac, but they are mere rain drops in an ocean of games, and crossover is the only option (other then streaming) to play the thousands of AAA games that have not been ported to the Mac

 

[dmr727]

Gamers (as we tend to use the term) won't ever embrace the Mac, regardless of the hardware or what titles are available. Apple will never win that battle, and I don't think they care regardless. They certainly don't act like it.

But as word continues to spread about Crossover and it keeps getting better, Apple may see some benefit from existing users spending more than they otherwise would. mayflynn already talked about upgrading to a Studio for gaming, and although I'm perfectly happy with my Air otherwise, my next laptop will likely be a MBP with a gaggle of GPU cores due to Crossover alone.

 

[opeter]

• Mac mini M4: 4.15%
• Mac mini M4 Pro: 0.78%
• Mac mini M2: 0.94%
• Mac mini M2 Pro: 0.47%
• All other Mac mini: 1.36%

• M1 and older don't show up in the survey, so making an assumption.
  https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam?platform=mac

Overall, mac is 2% of steam users. Above percents are only of mac users.

You will see a big fall in these numbers in September 2026 after release of macOS 27, because most of the older 64-bit Mac games wont work anymore, since Rosetta 2 wont be included in the upcomming operating system for Macs.

 

[Richdmoore]

You will see a big fall in these numbers in September 2026 after release of macOS 27, because most of the older 64-bit Mac games wont work anymore, since Rosetta 2 wont be included in the upcomming operating system for Macs.

I thought Rosetta is being discontinued except for gaming? (Although I wonder how that would even be policed, maybe a quick scan of the app to see if it uses specific deprecated programming?)

Apple details the end of Intel Mac support and a phaseout for Rosetta 2

Rosetta app translation features for Intel apps won't stay around indefinitely.

arstechnica.com

But after that, Rosetta will be pared back and will only be available to a limited subset of apps—specifically, older games that rely on Intel-specific libraries but are no longer being actively maintained by their developers.

 

[yellowhelicopter]

You will see a big fall in these numbers in September 2026 after release of macOS 27, because most of the older 64-bit Mac games wont work anymore, since Rosetta 2 wont be included in the upcomming operating system for Macs.

It still will be included, maybe not in full but necessary subset. They surely aren't going to discard GPTK as it's critical for game porting and it does need Rosetta 2 to function. In the worst scenario I guess someone will find a way to get it back, unofficially. But generally it's an idiocy to break or at least harm what is working great and playing major role for many. I personally surely will abandon Mac altogether if the possibility of Win-Mac translation with minimal overhead, like GPTK+Wine is gone.