Valve’s Steam and Source Coming Soon to Apple Mac OS X

March 9, 2010 - By Justin E. Gehrke

March 9, 2010 – It looks like the much-anticipated wait for Mac users is almost over. Valve Software announced on Monday that the first versions of its software titles will be available for Mac, beginning in April 2010. Composed of Steam, the company’s gaming service, and Source, its gaming engine, the move will, for the first time, support game play of hits such as Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series, on Mac operating systems.

Though already one of the premier providers of PC gaming services, with more than 25 million customers worldwide, Valve sees the inclusion of Mac  users as a huge success, for the company and gamers, alike. In addition to the titles previously mentioned, the release of Valve’s Portal 2 will be its first that includes support for both Windows and Mac. In a company press release, Josh Weier, Project Lead for Portal 2, is quoted as saying that the perfect synchronization between PC and Mac builds allows for fully native play, as well as making it easy for future game development that supports both operating systems.

For existing PC version owners, the good news is that Mac versions will be made available for them to download, with no additional charge. The first version of the Steam client for Mac is expected to be the equivalent of the next generation PC version, which is currently in Beta testing.

The lack of gaming support for Mac has long been a deterrent to many who might otherwise consider the switch from PC to Mac. It also prevented many die-hard Mac devotees from becoming more involved in both local and on-line based gaming, since the support just hasn’t been there. The Valve announcement, though, is just the latest example of efforts by gaming companies to expand their customer base from the traditional PC environment, by taking the extra software development steps necessary to ensure game play is not just supported but also seamless in its integration.

Source: Valve to Deliver Steam and Source on the Mac