this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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This discussion started with Valve supposedly making an effort to support Macs. For quite some time now I was speaking about Steam itself. It works but is so shit it's no wonder they're bleeding users before they even buy or launch a game.
If you take 30% of sales it's reasonable to expect you're going to support your platform for a reasonable amount of time. We are still talking about staggering amounts of money even if it's 1.4% user base that probably doesn't purchase as much as Windows users.
With what we know about how Valve is being run internally it's likely that it's just not fun anymore and less profitable than alternatives. Incidentally, this leads to a very Google-like behavior which back in the day led me to drop Android for iOS, which in turn led to getting a Mac.
You don't need to explain why companies do things but if we're here it's worth noting that some companies will burn money to project stability, long term support and to keep options open. They might have some issues but will bank on being a known quality.
Valve is still entirely at mercy of Microsoft which is why they prop up Linux, not because they're nice or very profitable there. That means they could do a rug-pull the moment it becomes inconvenient. Linux has no stable APIs either and it doesn't even attempt ABI stability. Linux support hinges on Proton which left unsupported would deteriorate quickly and with no native versions (which are a pain because API/ABI issues mentioned) it could get where Mac is currently rather quickly.
Apple does weird things constantly but other than insistence on Metal (which can be worked around with MoltenVK which Dota2 does) it sounds that Valve thinks their effort, while profitable, is better spent on things that are more profitable. Fair game to them but as a consumer I will voice my grievances.
And as a reminder, my whole point is that it can't be said that Valve made an effort - it was a one time thing that was quickly left to rot.
I ran Linux on desktop for 10 years. I run a Linux home server. You aren't explaining anything, you're throwing slogans at me. I'm talking about ABI stability and you talk about uptime and recompiling entire OS. Which will eventually break ABI and therefore all proprietary software like video games.