Why can I play some LEGO PC only games on Mac, but not others?

[marendreva]

I recently decided to revisit some old games I used to play. I downloaded and ran Lego Marvel's Avengers successfully, which I had already bought on Steam years ago, even though it is not supposed to run on Mac anymore. Thinking that I'd be able to do the same with another game, I bought LEGO Lord of the Rings and couldn't download it to my MacBook Air. There are only a few LEGO games that are playable on Mac, which is disappointing. However, I'm still able to run the two games which I bought before Mac stopped supporting 32 bit games (the other one being LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens). Could that be the reason? That I bought them when I could still play them on Mac? Or is there something else? And could I possibly do the same with some other games? Maybe I couldn't play LEGO Lord of the Rings because it is way too old, but a newer one might still run on my laptop, like LEGO City Undercover or LEGO The Hobbit? I don't know. Could someone help me?
I anybody needs this, I have the new MacBook Air with the M1 chip and I'm running Big Sur on it.

[Kargor]

You are not very clear, as you seem to be mixing up whether or not a MacOS port for a game exists on Steam, and whether or not that MacOS port is still functional.

The store page does not show a MacOS port of Lord of the Rings. Or Marvel's Avengers. So, these don't run on MacOS, no matter what. As to why or how you can run them, I have no idea.

However, you claim that you bought Lord of the Rings, yet you don't have the "I own this game" icon on your post. Maybe you bought it somewhere else, where a MacOS port is offered?

[marendreva]

I do not own this game anymore because I returned it, since I wasn't able to install it. As for the first part, I'm not sure I understand what you mean. I just know that LEGO Marvel's The Avengers does not have the little Apple icon and the system requirements state that it can only be played on Windows, and yet I am running it just fine.

[Noodle]

Originally posted by marendreva:

I do not own this game anymore because I returned it, since I wasn't able to install it. As for the first part, I'm not sure I understand what you mean. I just know that LEGO Marvel's The Avengers does not have the little Apple icon and the system requirements state that it can only be played on Windows, and yet I am running it just fine.

No support doesn't mean you can't run it, certain systems might be able to. That's all it is - support lol.

I recommend not buying games that don't have support as you could encounter issues down the line like corrupted/bloated save files or frequent crashing. There is a way you can install windows on apple hardware, maybe look into that if you want to switch without buying a new system.

Try a software/tool called "Wine", I think thats what linux/mac users use to run windows programs?

Other than that, nobody here can really help a whole lot.