Steam will stop running on MacOS in 19 days.

[DASH O'PEPPER (Jimmy Whisper)]

Starting on January 1 2019, Steam will officially stop supporting macOS versions 10.7 ("Lion"), 10.8 ("Mountain Lion"), 10.9 ("Mavericks") and 10.10 ("Yosemite"). This means that after that date the Steam Client will no longer run on those versions of macOS. In order to continue running Steam and any games or other products purchased through Steam, users will need to update to a more recent version of macOS.

The newest features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of macOS. In addition, future versions of Steam will require macOS feature and security updates only present in macOS 10.11 ("El Capitan") and above.

I find this news very unfortunate. As for me, I have quite a few legacy programs that will not run on newer versions of MacOS. These programs are imparitive to my work. Forcing a change that would require long time users of Steam to update or upgrade their computer just to retain access to their purchases is troubling.

I was under the impressiont that Steam was simply an interface for game distribution, updates, and management. Along with a few bells and whistles such as voice, freinds, and chat. If I don't have connection to the internet and start it offline mode I still have access to my games library. Is this "Update" telling me that without a new version of Steam (and operating system) I will forevor be locked out of my games library?

[999999999]

They are also removing support for XP and Vista.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1558-AFCM-4577

[Raging Buffoon]

I assume that is what is means, which is devastating because I am in a similar situation as you. This will mean that, for me, I will ultimately no longer use Steam. I wonder how many others are in the same boat?

[JORIMYᴰᴱᴰ]

I am in the same boat, running OSX 10.9.5 as I have older software that I am currently unable to upgrade at present.

They should do a stripped down version of the client so that people with older machines can still play the games they purchased.

What a dissapointment to say the least.

[Jonathan McEvoy]

Future computers will require 64-bit and I would hope that Mac OS 10.15 and the Windows 10 later versions will get 64-bit optimized for 2019 or 2020?

[fed]

Upgrading also slows down your mac and makes games run worse. I tried to upgrade to sierra because of this but I immediately downgraded back because games like csgo became so laggy that they were unplayable

[grafik]

Is it possible to sue Steam in the EU for deniying access to purchased Games?

[Dubdoll]

Is this an out of season April fools joke?

[Eric.B]

Throwing my hat in the ring (Not a Mac user, I loath Apple, but I do build software on OSX). The embedded version of Google Chrome Steam uses, CEF, works fine on OSX 10.10, per their own building requirements: https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/wiki/BranchesAndBuilding

So it's just a covenant excuse to drop it. I imagine most of "security" stuff they're implementing for Windows/OSX involves OS API/kernel level DRM stuff. Or something that effect.

My biggest problem with this is the short notice. That's a fairly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ move by Valve.

Originally posted by Jonathan McEvoy:

Future computers will require 64-bit and I would hope that Mac OS 10.15 and the Windows 10 later versions will get 64-bit optimized for 2019 or 2020?

Your comments make no sense. Any X86_64 machine can run 32-bit x86 code. So there is no "requirement". Operating system developers may drop 32-bit support, and Apple is doing that. This has zero effect on 10.6-10.10 requirements, because they're all 64-bit OS's.

For the end user, there is nothing gained from dropping 32-bit support other than storage space. For OS developers, it reduces complexity and thus costs. That's the only reason Apple is doing it. Windows will never drop 32-bit support, as their bread and butter is backwards compatibility.

This has nothing to do with Steam updating the client. (Although the client will probably be 64-bit, it's because most computers now days are running 64-bit OS's)

[The Chicagoan]

Originally posted by grafik:

Is it possible to sue Steam in the EU for deniying access to purchased Games?

Sure you can, but you won't win. They gave you all a heads up that they are disabling support for older OS's, so technically you can't do crap. You realize they could of easily just not give you a warning and then you would never be able to play on Steam till you updated your OS. You realize that, right? Be gald they gave you over a month warning. A months time that you should invest your money into a new computer and buy a new computer. So get out of 2002 and learn how to upgrade hardware or computers when needed.

[Raging Buffoon]

Originally posted by The Chicagoan:

So get out of 2002 and learn how to upgrade hardware or computers when needed.

I have MacOS 10.10.5 (Yosemite), and it is only a little over 2 years old... This means that the Steam client will not run on some Mac's that are only two years old or so depending on what OS that PC came with.

[The Chicagoan]

Originally posted by Raging Buffoon:

Originally posted by The Chicagoan:

So get out of 2002 and learn how to upgrade hardware or computers when needed.

I have MacOS 10.10.5 (Yosemite), and it is only a little over 2 years old... This means that the Steam client will not run on some Mac's that are only two years old or so depending on what OS that PC came with.

then update the os or just get a new computer. It's simple stuff...

[Tignus2099]

I can not afford the purchase of a new computer, I will use the PS4 and never steam forever. this steam is an unjust action. programmed obsolescence

[Force3]

It will affect me as well. I generally can't upgrade 10.10.4 because of both work and editing.

After all, it's about money, bug money in fact, and that alone is enough to make a large, (seemingly) respectable company introduce such "hidden" policy solely for its own profit.

Originally posted by xd fedecek:

Upgrading also slows down your mac and makes games run worse. I tried to upgrade to sierra because of this but I immediately downgraded back because games like csgo became so laggy that they were unplayable

You are absolutely right. I edit 4K Video files (40GB for a 7 minute clip) on my 2013 MacBook Pro and it runs smoothly, for a 6 year old Mac. Upgrading will just slow down it like mad. People I know: Friends, Family and Colleagues have upgraded their devices (MAC/PC/iPhone/Android) and it has always been slowing their activities down and every 1 - 2 years they buy a new device. Great business model, for dishonest and greedy companies.

[Raging Buffoon]

I was on Reddit's r/Steam, and u/satoru1111 posted the following:

As a side note prepare for the Mac-pocalypse next year as Apple

​

1) Officially deprecates 32-bit making almost all your Mac games not work

2) Officially deprecates OpenGL making ALL your Mac games not work

​

Devs are just gonna stop supporting Macs as no one is gonna bother doing both a 64-bit AND a Opengl->Metal migration for a game they're probably not making much money on anymore. Prepare for nearly all your old games on Mac to stop working very soon

Hm.. Buying a new Mac product isn't viable within a month (unless you have $1k-3k disposable income), and it doesn't seem to matter anyway even if you upgrade OS, because of the aforementioned.

[reukiodo]

If you have a pre-2009 Mac, you can't upgrade past 10.7 without hacks (and even then not perfectly). So I guess the only 'supported' solution is to run Windows10 on these older Macs? Then what is the point of having an Apple? Is there any way to fool Steam into thinking the OS is newer than it really is? I'd rather stay on Mac OS than switch over to Windows, and continue playing the same games that I've already been playing.

One alternative is to just not update the Steam client that has always worked. If they just stop supporting it but still let it run and connect to Steam, then they don't lose this existing customer base, and we still have access to all the games we've already purchased.