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Valve Offers Complete Game Library to 'Steam Link' Mac Customers Due to Delayed Support

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Video game developer and digital distribution company Valve began sending out emails to customers who pre-ordered its new streaming device, the Steam Link, over the weekend, apologizing to Mac users that the box won't function with Apple's ecosystem at launch. The company has begun shipping the initial wave of pre-orders to customers, but cited "temporary software issues" that prevent it from fully supporting the Mac line out of the gate.

steam-link-800x416.jpg

The $49.99 Steam Link is a set-top box for the living room that connects users to Valve's Steam platform by streaming content from a PC and into a more traditional console environment. To support the thousands of games that are meant to be played on a mouse and keyboard, the company also launched the Steam Controller for $49.99 alongside the Steam Link. Unfortunately for Mac users, the controller is also incompatible with the Apple line at launch, but Valve hopes the issue to be resolved in "the next few weeks."
Unfortunately, there are some temporary software issues that prevent the hardware from functioning with Macs. We expect these problems to be resolved as we update firmware and drivers over the next few weeks. The Steam Link currently doesn't stream from Macs. An upcoming update will add full support for streaming audio, video, and controller input.

The Steam Controller doesn't currently support gamepad emulation on Macs. If you opt into the Steam Beta client, keyboard/mouse emulation will be functional. We expect gamepad emulation to become functional within a few weeks. We want to apologize for the delays in providing full functionality for the Mac platform. We're doing everything we can to resolve the issues.
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Due to the snafu, Valve is providing Steam Link and Steam Controller early adopters who planned on streaming from a Mac with the compensation of a free download of the $99.99 Valve Complete Pack. The Complete Pack not only includes the entire back catalog of the company's history -- including games like Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Portal, and all their sequels -- but promises future Valve titles will be available to download free of charge. Still, those Mac users who want to send back their Steam Link and Controller will be able to keep the Complete Pack if they choose to do so.

Thanks, James!

Article Link: Valve Offers Complete Game Library to 'Steam Link' Mac Customers Due to Delayed Support
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/10/19/valve-steam-link-mac-customers/
I didn't initially read the entire email I got from Valve, and thought my Steam account was hacked or something when there were so many new games in there... Guess I'll be ready for HL3 if/when it ever drops :)
 
This was a bit of a bummer, but I still play almost exclusively on my Windows partition... so it's not a huge disappointment. Besides… every Valve game forever? That's got to be good for at least… no, who am I kidding? Valve doesn't develop games any more.
 
Does this mean I can pre-order and get the Complete Pack? Or are pre-orders over and this opportunity lost?
 
Please.

Please.

If you want to have a legitimate gaming experience, don't buy a Mac.

If you want an inferior, limited, and closed-source experience without virtually any freedom, go ahead and buy a Mac and use OS X.
 
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vertsix said:
Please.

Please.

If you want to have a legitimate gaming experience, don't buy a Mac.

If you want an inferior, limited, and closed-source experience without virtually any freedom, go ahead and buy a Mac and use OS X.
Click to expand...
There's nothing that can be done on a PC that can't be done on a Mac. The only reason - the only reason - gaming on Macs is "inferior" is because most developers don't have the resources to develop on both platforms concurrently. Those that do have the resources put out Mac versions quite successfully.
 
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vertsix said:
Please.

Please.

If you want to have a legitimate gaming experience, don't buy a Mac.

If you want an inferior, limited, and closed-source experience without virtually any freedom, go ahead and buy a Mac and use OS X.
Click to expand...
I assume your second paragraph is only referring to gaming? Because no, do not buy a Mac if you want a serious gaming experience. That aside... Macs and OS X are great for just about everything else.
 
The_Grifter said:
There's nothing that can be done on a PC that can't be done on a Mac. The only reason - the only reason - gaming on Macs is "inferior" is because most developers don't have the resources to develop on both platforms concurrently. Those that do have the resources put out Mac versions quite successfully.
Click to expand...
Not true.
There are lots of things, by personal experience I mean proprietary industrial control systems, that don’t work properly on a Mac. By that I mean even if you boot into Windows or virtualise.

It may be with some effort and some coding that you can get there in the end but as it stands right now, No. Right now, we have some systems that we speak to for control and firmware flashing that do not work, (or we’ve not managed to get it to work yet), on a Mac.
 
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