https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/steam-dropping-support-for-macos-mojave-and-by-extension-32-bit-games
"The Steam store will stop considering games that offer only 32-bit macOS binaries to be Mac compatible at the end of 2023."
Keep in mind, the last PowerPC (G5) chipset used was 64bit, and all Intel chips used after late 2006 were 64bit.
It does means that some legacy games that are only available in 32-bit binaries will no longer work though.
watch them work just fine in proton (i don't actually know if that works but i wouldn't be the least surprised)
Those of us that already have Steam games installed on Mojave will no longer be able to update? Or will Gaben reach into my computer and forbid me access to content I paid for?
Edit: All this anger for asking a relevant question. I learned my lesson.
The move means existing Steam Client installations on those operating systems will no longer receive updates of any kind, including security updates.
We expect the Steam client and games on these older operating systems to continue running for some time.
The company is encouraging all High Sierra and Mojave users to update "sooner rather than later" and noted that Apple ended security updates and technical support for both operating systems in December 2020 and October 2021, respectively.
I read that.
The article, and Steam's quotes, don't say either or with any certainty, so I'll have to wait and find out.
From what I can gather, it sounds like things will keep working until something changes on the back-end that leaves the old Steam client unable to connect anymore. I don't think they can't say when that will be exactly though because it depends on future updates.
Figures.
Most software I use that dropped support for Mojave already at least let me use older builds in peace.
I appreciate your trying to help clear it up.
The problem is when those "older builds" rely on a connection to a back-end. If this was just a standalone piece of software that is one thing, but you can't just let out-of-date clients that connect over the internet to run indefinitely.
The games I bought are stand-alone pieces of software. The gatekeeper needed to run those games is another story.
You could likely set it up to work "offline" so you can still play your steam games. If you were to set the steam client to offline (Assumedly through the Mac top bar 'Steam > Offline Mode') it should never need an update or contact with servers to keep working. That said, I don't know if there is a limit on how long you can have a computer connected to a specific account while never connecting to Valve's servers.
Hope so.
The article is very unclear. It keeps waffling between "it'll keep working." and "it might stop working."
I'm just wondering if it stops working because of an unforeseen problem or because Steam says "I cannot update, so I won't run."
It's not Steam's fault, but I have to hang on to this old battleship for a few more years before I can replace it with hardware current enough to run current software.
That’s not waffling… both of those things can be true. It currently works and will continue to but it may stop working in the future depending on what updates happen.
Yeah, this article is fucking shit. The support page at Steam literally clears the air on this.
Yes. You will still have access to your 32-bit Mac games in your Steam Library. We are not removing these games from your library and they will continue to work on macOS 10.14 Mojave and earlier, Windows and in many cases Linux as well.
I fucking hate people who write articles to stoke fear for clicks.
I fucking hate people who write articles to stoke fear for clicks.
What about people who are confidently wrong in their ignorance and post old articles that don't prove what they think it does?
Thank you for that. That support page is way more useful.
The article only links to the Steam blog. And the Steam blog doesn't link to the support page either.
The blog doesn't link to that support page because that support page isn't related to this. It's out of date and was written when MacOS originally dropped support for 32-bit apps starting with Catalina. Valve was letting people know that even though they wouldn't be able to play their 32-bit games if they update to Catalina, they would still be in their library and available to install on Mojave and earlier. Valve was still supporting the 32-bit Steam client back then.
That's an old support page from back when Apple originally dropped support for 32-bit apps, it wasn't written with the discontinuation of the 32-bit Mojave Steam Client in mind because at that point they were still supporting it. They won't be removing 32-bit games from your libraries, but the 32-bit Mojave Steam client will eventually stop working, and without any warning, when a future update inevitably breaks compatibility. They may still be in your library, but you wont have any way to install those 32-bit games anymore.
This article isn't stoking fear imo, it's very straightforward about what's happening here. At some indeterminate point in the future, there will be no more installing 32-bit MacOS games from Steam and anything you already have installed will presumably need to be run in offline mode because the client will stop working.
Sounds like the client will keep working until something breaks compatibility, which could happen whenever. Backend updates, chrome functionality, lots of things could happen. Or nothing. They're not supporting it, they can't guarantee anything.
32 bit game support is a bit more unclear; I'd probably recommend downloading games you like to play a lot, I'm not sure they'll be distributing 32 bit macos versions long-term.
What about it is misinformation? It's practically just Steam's own announcement worded differently. Everything in it is verifiable and supported by the Steam blog post.
First off it's confusing as hell where they try to paraphrase or summarize for what Valve already said plainly if you bypass this blogspam article and just go to their support page where they spell everything out neatly that any 32-bit games will remain in your library and accessible, albeit that your OS may not place nice. This article almost makes it as if they're removing stuff from your library, which Valve clearly says they're not doing. The summary AI bot would do a better job sourcing the Valve blog update than this writer did.
This article almost makes it as if they're removing stuff from your library
But it doesn't remotely imply that? Here are the words/phrases it uses to describe what will happen:
At no point does it say or imply that anything will be removed from your library. In fact, it explicitly says how you can ensure that those games you own will remain playable:
In order to ensure continued operation of Steam and new 64-bit games purchased through Steam, users on these older versions should update to a more recent version of macOS.
Why would they include that if they're trying to tell people the games will be removed from their library?
Stop fearmongering.
Is it possible you might be looking at this old support page from when MacOS first dropped support for 32 bit apps but Valve was still supporting the 32-bit client for older MacOS versions? The current page is this one. I doubt they'll be removing games from your libraries at any point, but the new article makes it clear that they aren't supporting the 32-bit Mojave Steam client or 32-bit games on Mac anymore and make no guarantees that they'll continue to work when the client stops getting updates.
After February 15th, 2024, we will no longer support macOS 10.14 or earlier and we are unable to guarantee continued functionality of 32-bit macOS games after that date.