Steam on Mac with M1

[Rasom__]

Hello. I am interested on buying a Mac Mini with M1. Can someone confirm that Steam works ok on M1? Also i would be very interested to know if Fall Guys and Geometry Dash work ok on Macs with M1.
Any answer is much appreciated.
Thank you.

[I AM NOT A LOSER I AM A WEBAPP]

These games you listed are very boring. They will work on your Mac Mini but they will bore the hell out of you.

[Cathulhu]

You can try running Steam client and those games through Rosetta, but do not expect ever to get official support for the ARM CPU.

[Rasom__]

My son, 12 years old, is playing these games. What I am looking for is for someone that has Mac Mini or Macbook with M1 and has tested Steam with these games to tell me how they perform.
@Cathulhu: Have you tested Steam on M1 hardware?

Again any comment is more than welcomed.

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

You can try running Steam client and those games through Rosetta, but do not expect ever to get official support for the ARM CPU.

[Cathulhu]

For many reasons i do not use Mac computers. I don't like closed ecosystems where others can dictate what i can or can not do on the computer i bought.

[Alvarez]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

You can try running Steam client and those games through Rosetta, but do not expect ever to get official support for the ARM CPU.

It will get ARM support, in a few years mac os will probably run only ARM apps.

[Cathulhu]

What makes you so sure?
Apple did a lot of things to alienate game developers.
Like dropping 32Bit support.
Forcing them to sign their binaries, even for patches. The signing process also costs money, which is a bad thing for small developers.
Switching from the generally available x86-64 architecture to the ARM architecture is just another move making game devs abandon Mac OS entirely.

So far, not one game on Steam was ported to ARM.

[Alvarez]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

What makes you so sure?
Apple did a lot of things to alienate game developers.
Like dropping 32Bit support.
Forcing them to sign their binaries, even for patches. The signing process also costs money, which is a bad thing for small developers.
Switching from the generally available x86-64 architecture to the ARM architecture is just another move making game devs abandon Mac OS entirely.

So far, not one game on Steam was ported to ARM.

I'm not sure. But why wouldn't steam make an ARM version in the future? From what I see M1 processors are quite impressive, still I'll wait for the next versions.

[Cathulhu]

Impressive, yes.
But right now the Steam client works fine through Rosetta. Valve may port their client if any noteworthy games get ported.

[♥♥♥ Get Sum]

If Valve ports their client, some developers will start releasing games for ARM. But Valve will have to take the first step. It will be a slow process, but it will at least be faster than convincing developers to port their games to Linux. I do think it will come in the future, as Mac OS is still a revenue stream (a small one) for Steam that is being cut off.
I feel it will either be replaced by a streaming client or a native client.

[Homy]

Can't believe people don't even check their facts when they answer here and then turn the discussion into a "Mac vs other systems" thread instead of helping OP.

Steam itself works fine. Fall Guys is a Windows game as far as I can see on Steam so no it won't run. Geometry Dash seems also be an old game from 2014 so I don't think it has 64-bit support. Steam warns for it not being able to run on Catalina or Big Sur. You can still test it because sometime those warnings are false.

Your only option is to try CrossOver or Parallels. CrossOver has a free 14 days trial. According to their database https://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility Geometry Dash runs fine in CrossOver but Fall Guys has limited functionality.

For how to run Windows games in CrossOver or Parallels on Mac I recommend this channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ-hl32h5CokBhlGu95C1Xg

[Rasom__]

Originally posted by Homy:

Can't believe people don't even check their facts when they answer here and then turn the discussion into a "Mac vs other systems" thread instead of helping OP.

Steam itself works fine. Fall Guys is a Windows game as far as I can see on Steam so no it won't run. Geometry Dash seems also be an old game from 2014 so I don't think it has 64-bit support. Steam warns for it not being able to run on Catalina or Big Sur. You can still test it because sometime those warnings are false.

Your only option is to try CrossOver or Parallels. CrossOver has a free 14 days trial. According to their database https://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility Geometry Dash runs fine in CrossOver but Fall Guys has limited functionality.

For how to run Windows games in CrossOver or Parallels on Mac I recommend this channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ-hl32h5CokBhlGu95C1Xg

Thank you for the comprehensive answer, much appreciated.
So Fall Guys is not supported right now on Steam for Mac. This is very important for me to know. My issue, for considering the Mac Mini, is the small factor. The home office i use does not have the space for a gaming desktop. Alternative would be to go for a gaming laptop but I believe that solution will cost me more than 1000 euro for a decent laptop with W10.
Will wait for few months to see if Fall Guys becomes officially available on Steam for Mac. M1 seems very promising even for gaming (check youtube reviews with demanding games like Fortnite, Tomb Raider etc).

[Alvarez]

That's true, probably most of the developers will make ARM games only for app store, at least for now.

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

Impressive, yes.
But right now the Steam client works fine through Rosetta. Valve may port their client if any noteworthy games get ported.

[green.spice]

I recently bought a M1 Mac Mini and am unable to successfully launch steam on it. I’m not a serious gamer so its not the end of the world but would have appreciated a little more clarity on compatibility or non-compatibility from Steam.
I’m not going to do work arounds like crossover.

[Alvarez]

Originally posted by green.spice:

I recently bought a M1 Mac Mini and am unable to successfully launch steam on it. I’m not a serious gamer so its not the end of the world but would have appreciated a little more clarity on compatibility or non-compatibility from Steam.
I’m not going to do work arounds like crossover.

Originally posted by green.spice:

I recently bought a M1 Mac Mini and am unable to successfully launch steam on it. I’m not a serious gamer so its not the end of the world but would have appreciated a little more clarity on compatibility or non-compatibility from Steam.
I’m not going to do work arounds like crossover.

For now I found the best to pay 5€/month for geforce now, but you can’t play all the steam games, there is a list of games and you need good network speed. Also u can play some games that aren’t on steam.

[pantheon0918]

Originally posted by green.spice:

I recently bought a M1 Mac Mini and am unable to successfully launch steam on it. I’m not a serious gamer so its not the end of the world but would have appreciated a little more clarity on compatibility or non-compatibility from Steam.
I’m not going to do work arounds like crossover.

I paid for parallel 17 and running windows inside macOS like an app , just for Everquest

Parallel 17 app’s developer are crazy ….
that kind of deep integration with latest macOS API

so sophisticated makes running windows like an app …no ordinary people could have done that

And I also use GeForce now , that’s enough for me