💥 Steam on macOS ARM: Valve Must Break the Vicious Cycle — Before It’s Too Late

[SkeletonGamer]

🎯 Why This Matters

Apple announced at WWDC 2025 that Rosetta 2 will be removed in macOS 28 (expected 2027).
This means all x86-only apps, including Steam, will stop working on the majority of Macs — Apple Silicon machines that have been on the market since 2020.

This isn’t a vague concern. It’s a five-year-old warning that’s becoming reality.

❗ Steam still runs on macOS only via Rosetta. When that’s gone, millions of users lose access to their libraries — even if their games are ARM-native.

⸻

🎮 ARM-native Games Already Exist

• No Man’s Sky is fully native and Metal-optimized.
• Resident Evil Village, Baldur’s Gate 3, Stray, and others run natively on Apple Silicon.
• Apple is actively assisting developers — including engine teams like Unity and Godot — to support ARM and visionOS.

✅ We have native games.
✅ We have ARM-native Macs.
❌ But we still don’t have a native Steam client to launch them.

⸻

🔄 The Vicious Cycle

Valve’s position often sounds like this:

“We don’t support macOS ARM because the user base is too small.”

But that’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

No native client → fewer users.
Fewer users → no justification for a native client.
That’s not business logic — that’s inertia.

It’s time to break that cycle. And Valve is perfectly capable of doing it.

⸻

🧱 Valve Already Supports ARM Internally

In June 2025, Valve quietly added experimental ARM64 support to its SteamOS runtime — likely in preparation for future ARM-based hardware (Deckard, VR, etc).

So let’s be clear:

🔧 Valve has engineers working on ARM.
🧪 The runtime already exists.
🎯 The only missing piece is a build for macOS ARM.

A single Valve developer could:
• Compile the client UI (CEF-based) for ARM64.
• Link to existing cross-platform SteamWorks libraries.
• Package a universal binary (x86_64 + ARM64) — like every modern macOS app.

Apple would likely assist. They already helped with Unity, Godot, and major AAA ports.

⸻

🛑 Without Action…

• 💥 Millions of Mac users will lose access to games they paid for.
• ⚖️ Consumer rights organizations (especially in the EU) may push back against DRM lockouts.
• 🤝 Studios who ported their games (Hello Games, Capcom…) will see their work broken.
• 🧲 Alternative platforms (Heroic, GOG) will attract frustrated users.
• 🔇 Valve will lose goodwill and credibility — again — just like it did when it killed CS:GO support for macOS without warning.

⸻

🧩 This Is a Moment of Truth
• Apple Silicon has been mainstream since late 2020.
• macOS ARM gaming is no longer theory — it’s real.
• Apple has officially announced the sunset of Rosetta.
• Users are ready. Developers are ready.

The only one holding things back… is Valve.

If Valve does nothing, it won’t be a technical limitation.
It’ll be a choice to abandon part of its customer base — permanently.

Let’s not wait until it’s too late.

Let’s fix this. Please.

[The_Abortionator]

Originally posted by Homy:

Originally posted by 🌲🌌 Nomad 🌌🌲MacOS:

Did you not see the literal announcement of beta ARM support for the Steam Client? Let me guess, NVIDIA fanboy?

Yeah, that was fast, three days after Apple's announcment about Rosetta phasing out. I guess making a native client wasn't that hard after all. Valve just played lazy the past 5 years. This also shows that the revenues from the Mac sales are important. Trolls got it wrong once again. Hurry up Epic! Lol

"Steam Client and Steam Helper apps now run natively on Apple Silicon."

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/announcements/detail/545611272206420782

Have you been copy pasting this on every thread? Thats sad dude....

[Homy]

Originally posted by The_Abortionator:

Originally posted by Homy:

Yeah, that was fast, three days after Apple's announcment about Rosetta phasing out. I guess making a native client wasn't that hard after all. Valve just played lazy the past 5 years. This also shows that the revenues from the Mac sales are important. Trolls got it wrong once again. Hurry up Epic! Lol

"Steam Client and Steam Helper apps now run natively on Apple Silicon."

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/announcements/detail/545611272206420782

Have you been copy pasting this on every thread? Thats sad dude....

You mean like you've been doing the past two years about petitions and Vulkan/Linux everywhere in this Mac forum? No petition or Vulkan support was needed either. Stay tuned for more exciting Mac news!

[The_Abortionator]

Originally posted by Homy:

Originally posted by The_Abortionator:

Have you been copy pasting this on every thread? Thats sad dude....

You mean like you've been doing the past two years about petitions and Vulkan/Linux everywhere in this Mac forum? No petition or Vulkan support was needed either. Stay tuned for more exciting Mac news!

I don't copy paste (like you did with this aswell) as I have a brain.

Why is it that the idea you'd ask for support from Apple so disgusting to you? They are literally who you buy your computers from.

You feel like this is some kind of clap back but in reality its kinda cringe.

You do realize you're part of a community struggling to play games trying to act snarky to some one who simply has to click install then play right?

I'd love if games simply worked on everything but your guys refusing to point at Apple an d call them out for any wrong doing is self defeating.

Its like a Windows user endlessly whining about every change M$ makes while screaming out loud that they'd never use anything else.

[Scott, President of Dominos]

Originally posted by The_Abortionator:

Originally posted by Homy:

You mean like you've been doing the past two years about petitions and Vulkan/Linux everywhere in this Mac forum? No petition or Vulkan support was needed either. Stay tuned for more exciting Mac news!

I don't copy paste (like you did with this aswell) as I have a brain.

Why is it that the idea you'd ask for support from Apple so disgusting to you? They are literally who you buy your computers from.

You feel like this is some kind of clap back but in reality its kinda cringe.

You do realize you're part of a community struggling to play games trying to act snarky to some one who simply has to click install then play right?

I'd love if games simply worked on everything but your guys refusing to point at Apple an d call them out for any wrong doing is self defeating.

Its like a Windows user endlessly whining about every change M$ makes while screaming out loud that they'd never use anything else.

So where in the Steam source code did Valve overhaul the system so that it could finally run on ARM? Must have been a lot of work for just three days!

[The_Abortionator]

Originally posted by Scott, President of Dominos:

Originally posted by The_Abortionator:

I don't copy paste (like you did with this aswell) as I have a brain.

Why is it that the idea you'd ask for support from Apple so disgusting to you? They are literally who you buy your computers from.

You feel like this is some kind of clap back but in reality its kinda cringe.

You do realize you're part of a community struggling to play games trying to act snarky to some one who simply has to click install then play right?

I'd love if games simply worked on everything but your guys refusing to point at Apple an d call them out for any wrong doing is self defeating.

Its like a Windows user endlessly whining about every change M$ makes while screaming out loud that they'd never use anything else.

So where in the Steam source code did Valve overhaul the system so that it could finally run on ARM? Must have been a lot of work for just three days!

Not how that works child. The people making the claims have the burden of proof. You guys are claiming its a light switch that can be flipped and thats not how programming works.

[Homy]

Originally posted by The_Abortionator:

Originally posted by Homy:

You mean like you've been doing the past two years about petitions and Vulkan/Linux everywhere in this Mac forum? No petition or Vulkan support was needed either. Stay tuned for more exciting Mac news!

I don't copy paste (like you did with this aswell) as I have a brain.

Why is it that the idea you'd ask for support from Apple so disgusting to you? They are literally who you buy your computers from.

You feel like this is some kind of clap back but in reality its kinda cringe.

You do realize you're part of a community struggling to play games trying to act snarky to some one who simply has to click install then play right?

I'd love if games simply worked on everything but your guys refusing to point at Apple an d call them out for any wrong doing is self defeating.

Its like a Windows user endlessly whining about every change M$ makes while screaming out loud that they'd never use anything else.

So you’re not here for exciting Mac news like the rest of us? Sorry, I forgot for a moment that you’re a Linux gamer allergic to positive news about Mac gaming only here to cheer for its death. Besides I was trying to keep it short and make it easier for you to understand since you’ve said you don’t like to read ”wall of worthless text”.

Did you expect a medal or Nobel Prize in Literature for not copy-pasting your ”unique” posts? Too bad you start every other post by telling people they’re ”lost”, ”really lost”, ”way lost” or ”confused”. You seem to think copy-pasting only applies to words but forget that your whole ancient and biased narrative is copy-pasted in every discussion. It’s like trying to put lipstick on a pig. Same nonsense, different look, every time.

So you don’t like the same short answers to your own repetitive posts and you call long explanations ”giant walls of garbage”, or TLDR? Well, Im not here to please you. Repetitive posts deserve only repetitive answers.

Speaking of brain, you mean like every time when you run out of reasonable arguments or are proven wrong you start to give everyone clown awards to the left and right? What a healthy and mature way of using your fantastic brain power. You sure teach us a lesson. How about wasting almost two years of your time as the only Linux gamer in the Mac threads trying desperately to convince people who already own and game on their Macs that Mac gaming is dead? Really smart move! How is that going for you? Have you managed to make any Mac gamer switch to Linux? Has anyone stopped gaming on their Macs? Have devs stopped making Mac games? Has Apple gone out of business? Have they scrapped Metal and embraced Vulkan? Has Valve discontinued the Steam Mac client and closed its Mac store?

Ask Apple for support for what? Have you seen me complaining about anything and needing support? In fact you act like the most miserable Mac gamer here without even being one. You have literally the highest number of negative posts and complaints about Mac, as a Linux gamer. Is that really a kind of achievement to be proud of? Is there a secret Steam achievement you’re trying to unlock? Don’t you find that the slightest embarrassing or as you always say ”cringy”? You still don’t understand that this discussion was about the Steam client and not your usual rant about Mac gaming. Valve is literally the one who owns the software, its source code and the Steam digital distribution service and storefront. If they want their Mac customers to keep using their products and services they have to keep their software updated, which they also finally did despite everything you’ve been saying.

Struggling to play games? You try so hard. All this effort the entire time so you can say you can play Team Fortress and Counter-Strike with one click like anyone should care. Play what you want with how many clicks you want. This isn’t a contest. Has Proton made you Linux guys soft and lazy? I thought you guys loved to tinker and solve problems. Now it’s the other way around. Now Mac gamers are the tinkerers and problem solvers with GPTK, Crossover, Kegworks, VMware Fusion, Heroic, Porting kit, Mac Source ports, Whisky, PlayOnMac and more. Who are you to dictate what people should/can do or not?

Do you think CDPR thought ”Mac gaming is dying” when they showcased Cyberpunk Ultimate Edition running at 120 fps with Ultra settings on a MacBook on battery? Has your ranting in the past couple of years stopped Capcom from making AAA Mac games or us from playing? You think Ubisoft, Remedy, Teyon, Bloober team and many others give a hoot about Linux gamers’ doom and gloom on Steam forums when they ported or will be releasing games like Cronos: The New Dawn, Architect: Land of Exiles, HITMAN World of Assassination, Crimson Desert, InZOI, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Baldur’s Gate 3, Civ VII, Control Ultimate Edition, Dead Island 2, Death Stranding, Farming Simulator 25, Frostpunk 2, Grid Legends, Hades II, Honkai Impact 3rd, Isonzo, Layers of Fear, Lies of P/Overture, No Man’s Sky, Palworld, Path of Exile 2, Prince of Persia: Lost Crown, Prodeus, Psychonauts 2, Robocop Rogue City/Unfinished Business, Sniper Elite 4/5, Snowrunner, Stray, Total War: Pharaoh, Total War: Warhammer III, Valheim, Where Winds Met, World of GOO 2, Wuthering Waves, X-plane 12?

You think they want to loose money or are doing charity? No, nobody paid them to make those ports. You actually think you know the Mac gaming market better than them? That speaks volumes but not surprising considering how many times you’ve been repeating the same narrative in Mac threads, been off-topic and made yourself infamous. Still to this day you also seem to miss the bigger picture and keep talking down Mac gaming. Those who game on Mac are fully aware of the upsides and downsides so who do you think you’re fooling or lecturing? The bigger picture is that we’re not the ones complaining all the time and can always find solutions but you’re single-handedly the biggest complainer in the Mac threads while you don’t even touch the platform even if your life depended on it. That speaks volumes about the true nature of your posts.

Once a year you write and pretend that you don’t care about Mac gaming and love if games worked on all platforms just so you can spend the rest of the year stalking the Mac threads and ranting about everything you find annoying. It’s not about having a brain but how you use it. Don’t you think we know our gaming options?

Mac gaming means playing games on Mac. It doesn’t mean exclusively native games. The entire Linux/Steam Deck gaming nowadays is about playing non-native games through transition layers so in the same sense Mac gaming is alive and kicking. We can play native or non-native games with different solutions. If it’s free and easy or takes time and money that’s for us to decide. We can also buy a gaming PC, handheld devices or play mobile games on iPhone, iPad or Android. So what’s even your point with all this fearmongering and crying wolf? You get the right tool for your job when you need it.

It doesn’t even take someone with ”brain” to figure it out. Everyone can just take a look at your post and comment history to see through your walls of smoke. Responses from other Mac users to your posts are also a clear indication. You can’t even deal with simple progresses in Mac gaming. Always backward-thinking and problem-seeking, never forward-thinking and solution-minded. You even downvote news about new games or sales with your ”clown” awards. How sad to get mad about others playing games on other platforms than Linux.

Don’t worry so much and don’t get mad when people refuse to dance by your rules. We’re not ”kids”, ”children” or ”clowns” as you frequently like to call us. We got this covered. After all we’re Mac gamers, tinkerers and problem solvers, unlike some PC gamers who occasionally loose their way in the Mac threads and instead act like whiners and trouble makers.

[The_Abortionator]

Originally posted by Homy:

Originally posted by The_Abortionator:

I don't copy paste (like you did with this aswell) as I have a brain.

Why is it that the idea you'd ask for support from Apple so disgusting to you? They are literally who you buy your computers from.

You feel like this is some kind of clap back but in reality its kinda cringe.

You do realize you're part of a community struggling to play games trying to act snarky to some one who simply has to click install then play right?

I'd love if games simply worked on everything but your guys refusing to point at Apple an d call them out for any wrong doing is self defeating.

Its like a Windows user endlessly whining about every change M$ makes while screaming out loud that they'd never use anything else.

So you’re not here for exciting Mac news like the rest of us? Sorry, I forgot for a moment that you’re a Linux gamer allergic to positive news about Mac gaming only here to cheer for its death. Besides I was trying to keep it short and make it easier for you to understand since you’ve said you don’t like to read ”wall of worthless text”.

Did you expect a medal or Nobel Prize in Literature for not copy-pasting your ”unique” posts? Too bad you start every other post by telling people they’re ”lost”, ”really lost”, ”way lost” or ”confused”. You seem to think copy-pasting only applies to words but forget that your whole ancient and biased narrative is copy-pasted in every discussion. It’s like trying to put lipstick on a pig. Same nonsense, different look, every time.

So you don’t like the same short answers to your own repetitive posts and you call long explanations ”giant walls of garbage”, or TLDR? Well, Im not here to please you. Repetitive posts deserve only repetitive answers.

Speaking of brain, you mean like every time when you run out of reasonable arguments or are proven wrong you start to give everyone clown awards to the left and right? What a healthy and mature way of using your fantastic brain power. You sure teach us a lesson. How about wasting almost two years of your time as the only Linux gamer in the Mac threads trying desperately to convince people who already own and game on their Macs that Mac gaming is dead? Really smart move! How is that going for you? Have you managed to make any Mac gamer switch to Linux? Has anyone stopped gaming on their Macs? Have devs stopped making Mac games? Has Apple gone out of business? Have they scrapped Metal and embraced Vulkan? Has Valve discontinued the Steam Mac client and closed its Mac store?

Ask Apple for support for what? Have you seen me complaining about anything and needing support? In fact you act like the most miserable Mac gamer here without even being one. You have literally the highest number of negative posts and complaints about Mac, as a Linux gamer. Is that really a kind of achievement to be proud of? Is there a secret Steam achievement you’re trying to unlock? Don’t you find that the slightest embarrassing or as you always say ”cringy”? You still don’t understand that this discussion was about the Steam client and not your usual rant about Mac gaming. Valve is literally the one who owns the software, its source code and the Steam digital distribution service and storefront. If they want their Mac customers to keep using their products and services they have to keep their software updated, which they also finally did despite everything you’ve been saying.

Struggling to play games? You try so hard. All this effort the entire time so you can say you can play Team Fortress and Counter-Strike with one click like anyone should care. Play what you want with how many clicks you want. This isn’t a contest. Has Proton made you Linux guys soft and lazy? I thought you guys loved to tinker and solve problems. Now it’s the other way around. Now Mac gamers are the tinkerers and problem solvers with GPTK, Crossover, Kegworks, VMware Fusion, Heroic, Porting kit, Mac Source ports, Whisky, PlayOnMac and more. Who are you to dictate what people should/can do or not?

Do you think CDPR thought ”Mac gaming is dying” when they showcased Cyberpunk Ultimate Edition running at 120 fps with Ultra settings on a MacBook on battery? Has your ranting in the past couple of years stopped Capcom from making AAA Mac games or us from playing? You think Ubisoft, Remedy, Teyon, Bloober team and many others give a hoot about Linux gamers’ doom and gloom on Steam forums when they ported or will be releasing games like Cronos: The New Dawn, Architect: Land of Exiles, HITMAN World of Assassination, Crimson Desert, InZOI, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Baldur’s Gate 3, Civ VII, Control Ultimate Edition, Dead Island 2, Death Stranding, Farming Simulator 25, Frostpunk 2, Grid Legends, Hades II, Honkai Impact 3rd, Isonzo, Layers of Fear, Lies of P/Overture, No Man’s Sky, Palworld, Path of Exile 2, Prince of Persia: Lost Crown, Prodeus, Psychonauts 2, Robocop Rogue City/Unfinished Business, Sniper Elite 4/5, Snowrunner, Stray, Total War: Pharaoh, Total War: Warhammer III, Valheim, Where Winds Met, World of GOO 2, Wuthering Waves, X-plane 12?

You think they want to loose money or are doing charity? No, nobody paid them to make those ports. You actually think you know the Mac gaming market better than them? That speaks volumes but not surprising considering how many times you’ve been repeating the same narrative in Mac threads, been off-topic and made yourself infamous. Still to this day you also seem to miss the bigger picture and keep talking down Mac gaming. Those who game on Mac are fully aware of the upsides and downsides so who do you think you’re fooling or lecturing? The bigger picture is that we’re not the ones complaining all the time and can always find solutions but you’re single-handedly the biggest complainer in the Mac threads while you don’t even touch the platform even if your life depended on it. That speaks volumes about the true nature of your posts.

Once a year you write and pretend that you don’t care about Mac gaming and love if games worked on all platforms just so you can spend the rest of the year stalking the Mac threads and ranting about everything you find annoying. It’s not about having a brain but how you use it. Don’t you think we know our gaming options?

Mac gaming means playing games on Mac. It doesn’t mean exclusively native games. The entire Linux/Steam Deck gaming nowadays is about playing non-native games through transition layers so in the same sense Mac gaming is alive and kicking. We can play native or non-native games with different solutions. If it’s free and easy or takes time and money that’s for us to decide. We can also buy a gaming PC, handheld devices or play mobile games on iPhone, iPad or Android. So what’s even your point with all this fearmongering and crying wolf? You get the right tool for your job when you need it.

It doesn’t even take someone with ”brain” to figure it out. Everyone can just take a look at your post and comment history to see through your walls of smoke. Responses from other Mac users to your posts are also a clear indication. You can’t even deal with simple progresses in Mac gaming. Always backward-thinking and problem-seeking, never forward-thinking and solution-minded. You even downvote news about new games or sales with your ”clown” awards. How sad to get mad about others playing games on other platforms than Linux.

Don’t worry so much and don’t get mad when people refuse to dance by your rules. We’re not ”kids”, ”children” or ”clowns” as you frequently like to call us. We got this covered. After all we’re Mac gamers, tinkerers and problem solvers, unlike some PC gamers who occasionally loose their way in the Mac threads and instead act like whiners and trouble makers.

Wow, more emotional freakouts.

Mac users aren't tinkerers, you literally can't be in a locked out system that doesn't even let you upgrade your SSD or RAM.

[MelaureCurufin]

hi Skeleton Games, what miss in your post is that Apple is selling 20 millions Mac a year, and since M3, the IGP is not so bad. So the potential is growing fast today.

Moreover there are a few native games today on Apple Silicon, but where are they ? On Mac App Store. Why can't I find mac version of Grid Legends, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Death Stranding, ... on Steam ? Why ???

Steam should start to sell every mac games available ...

@Abortiantor, we don't want to live in the past with a x86 platform that is just energy waste ... ARM is the good way, and the advantage of CPU integrated RAM is a five to ten time faster bandwith compared to RAM on slot ... and for storage Thunderbolt 4 or 5 does the job.

[Homy]

Originally posted by The_Abortionator:

Wow, more emotional freakouts.

Mac users aren't tinkerers, you literally can't be in a locked out system that doesn't even let you upgrade your SSD or RAM.

Facts can be hurtful so your Wow feeling, emotional reaction and inability to grasp simple facts that go against your distorted reality is understandable even though it doesn’t help your case and credibility as usual.

Your limited understanding of the definition of tinkerers is yet another proof of your limited and outdated knowledge about Mac gaming and its possibilities.

[amprikuku]

Originally posted by Homy:

Originally posted by 🌲🌌 Nomad 🌌🌲MacOS:

Did you not see the literal announcement of beta ARM support for the Steam Client? Let me guess, NVIDIA fanboy?

Yeah, that was fast, three days after Apple's announcment about Rosetta phasing out. I guess making a native client wasn't that hard after all. No petition or Vulkan was needed either. Valve just played lazy the past 5 years. This also shows that the revenues from the Mac sales are important. Trolls got it wrong once again. It's your turn now Epic! Lol

"Steam Client and Steam Helper apps now run natively on Apple Silicon."

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/announcements/detail/545611272206420782

How do you now run Steam client without Rosetta? Downloaded steam.dmg but it's prompting to install Rosetta, so no?

[Homy]

Originally posted by amprikuku:

Originally posted by Homy:

Yeah, that was fast, three days after Apple's announcment about Rosetta phasing out. I guess making a native client wasn't that hard after all. No petition or Vulkan was needed either. Valve just played lazy the past 5 years. This also shows that the revenues from the Mac sales are important. Trolls got it wrong once again. It's your turn now Epic! Lol

"Steam Client and Steam Helper apps now run natively on Apple Silicon."

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/announcements/detail/545611272206420782

How do you now run Steam client without Rosetta? Downloaded steam.dmg but it's prompting to install Rosetta, so no?

By downloading and using the Beta. Maybe you have to install the beta again. When I first switched to beta and Steam restarted in Sequoia the app was still x86. I was surprised because in Sonoma it was updated the first time. Then I turned off beta and tried again and restarted Steam and it worked.

[aiusepsi]

Originally posted by amprikuku:

How do you now run Steam client without Rosetta? Downloaded steam.dmg but it's prompting to install Rosetta, so no?

You can't run the Steam client completely without Rosetta yet. Probably.

The non-beta Steam client still uses an x86_64 executable for the main Steam process (the Steam Helper processes are arm64) and even on the beta Valve haven't pushed an update to the bootstrapper stub that lives in /Applications/Steam.app, nor an update to the steam.dmg image which is how that bootstrapper stub is first installed.

But: the bootstrapper stub app and the main Steam client executable are the same program (steam_osx), so I think Valve is just being a little conservative; accidentally breaking the bootstrapper stub would be bad because it wouldn't be possible to push an automatic update to unbreak it. So my guess is they'll keep the status quo for a few months just to get some confidence that stuff isn't broken before they update steam.dmg and the stub bootstrapper.

In principle, it might be possible to take steam_osx etc. from ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/Steam.AppBundle and copy them into /Applications/Steam.app to make a frankenbootstrapper which works Rosetta-less, but I've not tried it. It's very possible it won't.

[Player 1]

Did ChatGPT write this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥? Are you active on linkedin? I have so many questions lol

[SkeletonGamer]

Originally posted by Player 1:

Did ChatGPT write this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥? Are you active on linkedin? I have so many questions lol

I guided ChatGPT to write this. I combined all the information and my knowledge to make ChatGPT write a complete, formatted post.