Major gaming news at WWDC: Metal and New games

[MRMSFC]

Regarding the recent Steam survey it's still worth to notice that like other surveys it represents a fraction of the actual numbers. They send a request to a few thousands randomly chosen users out of 132 million (2021) monthly active users and ask if they want to participate by sending their SW/HW data.

There are people who have been chosen 4 times in 18 years or people who haven’t been asked for 10 years. I myself got a request just yesterday actually two times, once on my Mac and once when using Crossover. I’ve had Steam for 15 years and as far as I remember this is the first time I’ve been asked or participated. Maybe I was asked before but didn’t participate but it can’t be more than a couple of times during this 15 years. That’s also why we some months see big changes in the share of Mac or Linux users. Two examples are Feb 2.37% and March 1.41% or May 2.39% and June 1.79%. Linux has had similar jumps too.

Some people seem to get the survey more frequently so I wonder if it depends on how you answer the first time. Perhaps if you participate once they will keep contacting you thinking there’s a bigger chance to get a positive answer. By the way in Crossover the reported OS is Windows but the reported HW is my Mac so I don’t know how that affects the survey.

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I certainly wouldn’t use Steam’s hardware survey for any academic work, but it’s good enough for internet arguments.

 

[Homy]

I certainly wouldn’t use Steam’s hardware survey for any academic work, but it’s good enough for internet arguments.

Even with the latest 1.43% Mac share there would be about 1.9 million monthly active Mac users but people just focus on the small share. That’s larger than the population of Turin, Warsaw, Hamburg, Budapest, Lyon, Stockholm or a small country and probably the reason many devs still port their games to Mac becuase they see the real numbers. Let's not forget that's just Steam numbers. There are even more out there who don't use Steam.

 

[Homy]

My Little Universe and Cyber Tower Defense both have now native Mac ports.

Save 60% on My Little Universe on Steam

Stranded on a barren moon with nothing but your tools, fuelless ship, and celestial powers of creation, you are destined to recreate what was once lost and be the hero of your own Little Universe! Don't forget to call in up to three of your friends to join your journey in the Splitscreen Co-op Mode!

store.steampowered.com

CyberTD on Steam

Mutant viruses threaten the very heart of cyberspace! You'll need the right tactics and the "help" of your support drone to build a deck of terrific upgrades in this innovative deckbuilding tower defense game packed with roguelite elements!

store.steampowered.com

 

[MRMSFC]

Even with the latest 1.43% Mac share there would be about 1.9 million monthly active Mac users but people just focus on the small share. That’s larger than the population of Turin, Warsaw, Hamburg, Budapest, Lyon, Stockholm or a small country and probably the reason many devs still port their games to Mac becuase they see the real numbers. Let's not forget that's just Steam numbers. There are even more out there who don't use Steam.

I like the positivity, and something I feel is worth mentioning that many Mac users also have dedicated gaming PCs.

 

[diamond.g]

So I just watched a video of AC:Mirage on a GT1030 and it played well enough, makes me wonder why they didn't bother to do a macOS version (or if the mobile version is iPhone 15 only it seems like it could run on less than 8GB of RAM).

 

[Homy]

So I just watched a video of AC:Mirage on a GT1030 and it played well enough, makes me wonder why they didn't bother to do a macOS version (or if the mobile version is iPhone 15 only it seems like it could run on less than 8GB of RAM).

As suggested in a previous article posted here and other sources Apple is working with the devs to bring all new iPhone 15 Pro games to Mac so it can be a universal purchase when it launches next year, like Resident Evil 4, but in the end it's a decision for the devs to make.

 

[diamond.g]

As suggested in a previous article posted here and other sources Apple is working with the devs to bring all new iPhone 15 Pro games to Mac so it can be a universal purchase when it launches next year, like Resident Evil 4, but in the end it's a decision for the devs to make.

Def seems like low hanging fruit.

 

[Irishman]

Def seems like low hanging fruit.

Unless they hadn’t bothered with that much, then there would be no fruit.

 

[APCX]

As suggested in a previous article posted here and other sources Apple is working with the devs to bring all new iPhone 15 Pro games to Mac so it can be a universal purchase when it launches next year, like Resident Evil 4, but in the end it's a decision for the devs to make.

I thought we had confirmation that Mirage was coming to the Mac? I wouldn’t read into a lack of an announcement yet. RE:V wasn’t announced for the iPhone until last month.

 

[diamond.g]

I thought we had confirmation that Mirage was coming to the Mac? I wouldn’t read into a lack of an announcement yet. RE:V wasn’t announced for the iPhone until last month.

I thought we were told it was coming to iOS with no macOS version planned.

 

[APCX]

I thought we were told it was coming to iOS with no macOS version planned.

Interesting. Where did you see that? You could be correct. I remember Jason Snell saying it was coming on a podcast

 

[diamond.g]

Looking at an IGN article. Though to be fair it doesn’t mention macOS at all.

iPhone 15 Pro Adding Resident Evil 4 Remake, Assassin's Creed Mirage, and More in 2024 - IGN

Apple says its iPhone 15 Pro represents the "next generation of mobile gaming", with support for console and PC games previously unavailable on mobile hardware.

www.ign.com

I feel like MacRumors reported on at least AC being iOS only but I can’t find that article just yet.

 

[APCX]

Looking at an IGN article. Though to be fair it doesn’t mention macOS at all.

iPhone 15 Pro Adding Resident Evil 4 Remake, Assassin's Creed Mirage, and More in 2024 - IGN

Apple says its iPhone 15 Pro represents the "next generation of mobile gaming", with support for console and PC games previously unavailable on mobile hardware.

www.ign.com

I feel like MacRumors reported on at least AC being iOS only but I can’t find that article just yet.

We’ll see I guess. I am surprised if Apple would feature them at the event and they dont follow the “play on all devices“ narrative of Resident Evil.

 

[Homy]

It's Steam Next Fest and one game caught my attention. It's Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley. Since Moomin is popular here in Nordic countries I thought you should know. It will be ARM64 native and you can play the demo now.

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley on Steam

Join Snufkin in this musical adventure about restoring harmony and balance to Moominvalley, protecting it from the industrious Park Keeper.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Homy]

"We have an important update for all the Mac users out there: the launch of an Open Beta branch dedicated to Mac players, which should open in about 2 weeks. We will of course keep you informed as soon as the exact date is determined. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we've worked to make this happen."

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

I have some news you're not gonna wanna hear. Valve has announced that Counter Strike 2 will NOT be coming to Mac, ever. Their reasoning being because Mac players combined with DirectX 9 PCs represented less than 1% of all Counter Strike players.

Steam Support :: FAQS

help.steampowered.com

 

[Homy]

I have some news you're not gonna wanna hear. Valve has announced that Counter Strike 2 will NOT be coming to Mac, ever. Their reasoning being because Mac players combined with DirectX 9 PCs represented less than 1% of all Counter Strike players.

Steam Support :: FAQS

help.steampowered.com

Suspected something when they emptied the Mac depot with 314MB. CS2 (GO) had all-time high 5 months ago with 1,818,773 players. Less than 1% is about 18,000 players combined Mac/DX9 PC so maybe 10K Mac players at most? It's understandable but sad for those who played. Never did myself. I guess Mac players have better taste in games.

At the same time Redfall had 8 players the other day so more Mac gamers play CS2 than people ever played Redfall...

 

[jeanlain]

I'm not sure why they have been maintaining a Mac depot for the game.
And I'm curious about the number of Linux players.

I thought that porting the game to Mac using moltenVK wasn't such a difficult task.

 

[galad]

Valve simply wants to build its own walled garden, that's why they are investing on steam deck and Linux. Probably it would have taken very few resources to make a Mac port, but that's not something they want to do.

CS always run like crap on macOS, first they kill it by making it horrible to use, then they tell that no one was playing it anyway.

 

[Nugat Trailers]

Wouldn't be so bad if Valve even treated the Mac like third class citizens, it would still be a step up. I doubt Valve even have Macs to test on.

 

[salamanderjuice]

Suspected something when they emptied the Mac depot with 314MB. CS2 (GO) had all-time high 5 months ago with 1,818,773 players. Less than 1% is about 18,000 players combined Mac/DX9 PC so maybe 10K Mac players at most? It's understandable but sad for those who played. Never did myself. I guess Mac players have better taste in games.

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At the same time Redfall had 8 players the other day so more Mac gamers play CS2 than people ever played Redfall...

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In fairness to Redfall, I'd imagine most of the player base was on Xbox/PC game pass rather than Steam. I bet it easily hit over 18,000 day 1, day 10 tho...

And look on the bright side CS: GO on Mac lasted longer than the PS3 and 360 versions...

 

[diamond.g]

In fairness to Redfall, I'd imagine most of the player base was on Xbox/PC game pass rather than Steam. I bet it easily hit over 18,000 day 1, day 10 tho...

And look on the bright side CS: GO on Mac lasted longer than the PS3 and 360 versions...

Yeah PC GamePass makes some Steam stats not 100% useful for some games on Steam.

 

[APCX]

It’s a shame CS2 won’t be coming to the Mac. Portal is probably my favorite game ever. Still, this is another reason I try and use anything other than Steam. Terrible app from a now terrible (for the Mac) company.

 

[diamond.g]

It’s a shame CS2 won’t be coming to the Mac. Portal is probably my favorite game ever. Still, this is another reason I try and use anything other than Steam. Terrible app from a now terrible (for the Mac) company.

Well there is still EGS, GoG, and MAS.

 

[APCX]

Well there is still EGS, GoG, and MAS.

True. I suspect Steam will be necessary for quite a while unfortunately.