Steam survey finds more than 8% of gamers use Apple's Mac OS X

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
More users of Valve's Steam gaming service ran a version of Apple's Mac OS X in its first month of availability than the 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista combined, according to a new hardware survey.



A total of 8.46 percent of Steam users in May 2010 were on some version of Apple's operating system, with Mac OS X 10.6.3, Mac OS X 10.6, and Mac OS X 10.5.8. The new data is a part of Steam's monthly hardware survey, which presents data about the kind of computers users of the service have.



Apple's debut compared with 6.95 percent of users on the 64-bit version of Microsoft's last-generation operating system, Windows Vista. Another 0.55 percent were seen running Windows XP 64 bit, while 0.35 percent were reported as Windows 2003 64 bit.



May represents the first time that Mac OS X users have been able to officially use the Steam service within Mac OS X, since the application was released. Apple made a splash, with all listed versions of Windows losing market share when Mac OS X was added into the equation.



The far-away winner remains the 32-bit version of Windows XP, which 32.89 percent of Steam gamers were running as their operating system. That was followed by 24.77 percent of users on Windows 7 64 bit, 14.66 percent on Windows Vista 32 bit, and 11.15 percent of users on Windows 7 32 bit.



In an exclusive interview with AppleInsider in March, John Cook, director of Steam development at Valve, said that the monthly hardware reports could prove to be a great asset for developers who are interested in bringing their titles to Mac OS X. Details such as operating system, processor and graphics card give a clear indication how well a title will run on a user's system.



"One thing for certain is that the Mac market will be a lot less of a mystery to the game industry as we add Mac hardware statistics to our ongoing hardware survey," Cook said.







Steam is digital game distribution platform which has more than 25 million users and offers access to 1,100 games on the PC. Developer Valve has said it will treat the Mac as a "first-tier" platform, meaning new major titles developed for the PC will release day-and-date with the Mac.







High-profile releases from Valve for Mac OS X so far have included Game of the Year award winners Portal and Half-Life 2. Valve has also made native OS X support for the Source engine available to licensees for use in their games. The company has also made its Steamworks suite of publishing and development tools available on the Mac platform, including product key authentication, copy protection, auto-updating, social networking, matchmaking, anti-cheat technology, and more.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 71
    icarbonicarbon Posts: 196member
    Seriously?!? How can you put such a misleading title on the article... and why? 8% adoption is huge, but at the same time, the title implies that OSX is blowing the snot out of M$, when it is nearly an order of magnitude less!



    why why why???
  • Reply 2 of 71
    bartfatbartfat Posts: 434member
    Thing is, market share for Windows will naturally drop when a new platform is introduced. Of course, when you have 0 percent it's easy to make the other platforms decline in percentage. The real question is, did those gamers stop using Windows because of Steam?
  • Reply 3 of 71
    per_seper_se Posts: 3member
    "Apple's debut compared with 6.95 percent of users on the 64-bit version of Microsoft's last operating system, Windows Vista."





    Really??? That's news to me. What's Windows 7 then?



    In more recent news Microsoft Insider reports that MS mobile operating system has a larger market share then Apple's last mobile operating system, Iphone OS 1.0 French version.



    It's impressive that OS X has such a strong representation but the way this article is written and the headline is pure fluff.
  • Reply 4 of 71
    nbuubunbuubu Posts: 1member
    Seriously. Reads right out of the Fox News playbook for headline writing.



    I was excited to get Steam and finally thought I'd be free of the bootcamp partition taking up space on my Macbook Pro's SSD ... but nope. Though the games run, they run much slower than in Windows 7 on the exact same hardware. The drops in framerate are especially noticable in busy scenes.



    Until Apple provides tuned driver support for OSX, and provides better than years-behind GPU tech in their desktops, gamers will simply not be switching en masse to OSX. Besides the fact that without DirectX, the vast majority of titles will simply never get ported and those that do, will have to run OpenGL for worse picture quality and performance.



    I may use OSX on my work machine, but for gaming, I'm not leaving Windows any time soon.
  • Reply 5 of 71
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,310moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by per_se View Post


    "Apple's debut compared with 6.95 percent of users on the 64-bit version of Microsoft's last operating system, Windows Vista."



    Really??? That's news to me. What's Windows 7 then?



    Windows 7 is the current operating system, Vista is the last one. The word 'previous' instead of 'last' would have been clearer but that's what it meant.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nbuubu


    Though the games run, they run much slower than in Windows 7 on the exact same hardware. The drops in framerate are especially noticable in busy scenes.



    It's only been out for a little while though and it mostly still plays smoothly at maximum quality (i.e above the 30FPS threshold). There's a bug somewhere in the drivers causing framerate drops and updated drivers are coming with 10.6.4.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nbuubu


    Besides the fact that without DirectX, the vast majority of titles will simply never get ported and those that do, will have to run OpenGL for worse picture quality and performance.



    The Source engine uses DirectX too and the quality is on par with the Windows version. The water effects look pretty much identical on the Mac vs Windows:



    http://www.flickr.com/photos/adurdin...85104/sizes/l/



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bartfat


    The real question is, did those gamers stop using Windows because of Steam?



    It's probably due to Mac users no longer playing via Bootcamp. Just before the Steam launch, I was playing HL2 via Steam but switched to playing Episode 1 on the Mac side and I suspect a few people did the same.
  • Reply 6 of 71
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    I am really not a gamer per se. I used to go to arcades with my son when he was growing up, and I did enjoy some of those, and I particularly enjoyed a game called 1942 which I played on his game console (Nintendo?) at home. But as he grew up I ceased playing them. I went to Steam when it was first announced for the Mac. I thought, now that I am retired and have the time to play there must be some incredible new games that are light years ahead of the 80s. Right on the front page was one called Altitude, and the picture showed WWII fighter planes in good detail in 3D action. When I clicked on it, the demo looked like little toy kiddie game planes from the 70s! If this is what all the fuss is about with Steam, I'm glad I checked out years ago. You'd think with all the advances in computer technology that things like this would have disappeared.



    I've seen the D&D kind of games like WOW and such, but I just don't have the patience for those all-consuming type of games where you practically have to live your life in front of a screen to enjoy them. Aren't there any good 3D historic war games that strike a balance between Byzantine complexity and realistic play?
  • Reply 7 of 71
    cbswecbswe Posts: 116member
    Everyone knows what steam content delivery is, right?

    The title says 8% of the steam users are sitting behind a mac. What's misleading about it? Am I missing something?
  • Reply 8 of 71
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Robin Huber View Post


    Aren't there any good 3D historic war games that strike a balance between Byzantine complexity and realistic play?



    check out company of heroes its a decent strategy game with excellent graphics. downside is i think its only for windows but definitely a great game imo. one of the only reasons I have windows.
  • Reply 9 of 71
    chiachia Posts: 713member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Robin Huber View Post


    Aren't there any good 3D historic war games that strike a balance between Byzantine complexity and realistic play?



    I enjoyed Day of Defeat via Steam on Windows. I think this might be right up your street. I'm hoping Steam brings it to the Mac soon - it's still showing as Windows only
  • Reply 10 of 71
    orlandoorlando Posts: 601member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iCarbon View Post


    Seriously?!? How can you put such a misleading title on the article... and why? 8% adoption is huge, but at the same time, the title implies that OSX is blowing the snot out of M$, when it is nearly an order of magnitude less!



    why why why???



    Absolutely.



    Getting an 8% share especially in such a short period of time is an unbridled success. I doubt anyone seriously thought we would see this level of adoption in just one month.



    But to then take the combined numbers for all versions of OS-X and compare it to the least used versions of Microsoft's old operating systems takes away this success and makes it look like the author is fiddling the figures.
  • Reply 11 of 71
    icarbonicarbon Posts: 196member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cbswe View Post


    Everyone knows what steam content delivery is, right?

    The title says 8% of the steam users are sitting behind a mac. What's misleading about it? Am I missing something?



    they kindly changed the title to be less misleading -- something I highly approve of (thanks), but I can see how it would be really confusing to you.



    and, yep, as an AAPL stock holder, 8% is huge to me!
  • Reply 12 of 71
    dr millmossdr millmoss Posts: 5,403member
    Help me out here. I've read all about Steam, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what it actually is. Do buyers download an actual copy of the game from Steam, or it server-based somehow? Also, why is it easier (if it is) to port PC games to the Mac using Steam over some other method? I've read about the Steam Client but it's not clear to me what it does.



    BTW, my old favorite battle strategy game is Combat Mission. Sadly this company stopped developing for the Mac before OSX appeared, or at least their promises to return to the Mac have been unfulfilled for so long I gave up on them. I wonder if Steam would make it easier for them to release Mac titles.
  • Reply 13 of 71
    cbswecbswe Posts: 116member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iCarbon View Post


    they kindly changed the title to be less misleading -- something I highly approve of (thanks), but I can see how it would be really confusing to you.




    Oh, okey. What was the original title?
  • Reply 14 of 71
    avidfcpavidfcp Posts: 381member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cbswe View Post


    Everyone knows what steam content delivery is, right?

    The title says 8% of the steam users are sitting behind a mac. What's misleading about it? Am I missing something?



    buy a 17", you are stuck with a consumer machine.





    I think Apple is missing out on the Prosumer audio/video

    consumers. None if the macs support express slots except the 17 inch. The iMac lacks all kinds off adapters to get esata or esata raid. And now, unless you buy a 17", most machines have no way to add in some higher end fx, even if it's something as trivial as an express card raid.



    Avid was smart about this. They went out and purchased maudio as

    maudio runs all their software on native computing





    thus video/audio prosumer market is huge and it's as if Apple doesn't care. They just care about a small base of say cable networks that buy mac pros when they could really be cornering the prosumer market instead of catering to iLife users. Especially now that webisodes are becoming huge and people watch tv when they want betot dvr or torrents.



    It really wouldn't take much to add exprrss

    slots to all the machines and esata, 800 speed FireWire.



    Again, this market is like 100

    times if not larger, than the pro market.
  • Reply 15 of 71
    stlbluesfanstlbluesfan Posts: 353member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bartfat View Post


    Thing is, market share for Windows will naturally drop when a new platform is introduced. Of course, when you have 0 percent it's easy to make the other platforms decline in percentage. The real question is, did those gamers stop using Windows because of Steam?



    The answer is obvious. No.
  • Reply 16 of 71
    stlbluesfanstlbluesfan Posts: 353member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cbswe View Post


    Everyone knows what steam content delivery is, right?

    The title says 8% of the steam users are sitting behind a mac. What's misleading about it? Am I missing something?



    8% of machines are running a Mac OS. That's not the same as 8% of users as many folks, including myself, have both Mac and Windows machines and have now connected to Steam with both.
  • Reply 17 of 71
    stlbluesfanstlbluesfan Posts: 353member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss View Post


    Help me out here. I've read all about Steam, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what it actually is. Do buyers download an actual copy of the game from Steam, or it server-based somehow? Also, why is it easier (if it is) to port PC games to the Mac using Steam over some other method? I've read about the Steam Client but it's not clear to me what it does.



    BTW, my old favorite battle strategy game is Combat Mission. Sadly this company stopped developing for the Mac before OSX appeared, or at least their promises to return to the Mac have been unfulfilled for so long I gave up on them. I wonder if Steam would make it easier for them to release Mac titles.



    Games are purchased via Steam, which then installs a copy on the user's machine. You can uninstall and then reinstall via Steam at any time. Steam also provides a lot of community aspects including the ability to easily track where your friends might be playing and to join them on multiplayer servers.



    Steam does not port the games. The developer does that, Steam simply provides a method for users to browse, purchase and play the games. Conversely, they provide another way for developers to market their games.
  • Reply 18 of 71
    cbswecbswe Posts: 116member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by StLBluesFan View Post


    8% of machines are running a Mac OS. That's not the same as 8% of users as many folks, including myself, have both Mac and Windows machines and have now connected to Steam with both.



    Ok, so you're saying the share of steam users behind a mac should be higher then 8% since loads of them are contributing to the windows statistics?
  • Reply 19 of 71
    bettiebluebettieblue Posts: 294member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Orlando View Post


    Absolutely.



    Getting an 8% share especially in such a short period of time is an unbridled success. I doubt anyone seriously thought we would see this level of adoption in just one month.



    But to then take the combined numbers for all versions of OS-X and compare it to the least used versions of Microsoft's old operating systems takes away this success and makes it look like the author is fiddling the figures.



    And in 6 months when the newness is gone will Mac usage drop?
  • Reply 20 of 71
    dr millmossdr millmoss Posts: 5,403member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by StLBluesFan View Post


    Games are purchased via Steam, which then installs a copy on the user's machine. You can uninstall and then reinstall via Steam at any time. Steam also provides a lot of community aspects including the ability to easily track where your friends might be playing and to join them on multiplayer servers.



    Steam does not port the games. The developer does that, Steam simply provides a method for users to browse, purchase and play the games. Conversely, they provide another way for developers to market their games.



    How is it different for Steam to install a game as opposed to downloading and doing it yourself? Why do you need Steam to uninstall it? Sorry, but this concept is not clear to me.
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