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This is a chicken and egg problem. I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 on my M1 Macbook pro, it's been a fantastic experience. The only reason I keep my Qindows m

This is a chicken and egg problem. I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 on my M1 Macbook pro, it's been a fantastic experience. The only reason I keep my Qindows machine around at this point is for the occasional game session. I've talked to many mac users over the years who were gamers but were marooned on consoles. So many unique experiences on PC that either can't be found on console or are objectively worse without a mouse and keyboard. Seems like money on the table waiting to be picked up.

justinclift 3y ago
Anyone know if Steam has ARM64 support? If so, then dual booting a mac into Linux for gaming purposes might be a workable option at some point.
- _cenw 3y ago
  Steam doesn't even have ARM64 support on Windows or macOS. And neither do most games.
  - justinclift 3y ago
    Damn. Oh well. :/
- ThatPlayer 3y ago
  Steam doesn't even have a native x86_64-only Linux version, you still need x86 runtimes. Though it is possible to use FEX-EMU to run it on Linux on a Mac: https://youtu.be/_tG3kfgqPhc https://youtu.be/_tG3kfgqPhc
  - justinclift 3y ago
    That's a 7 and a half hour video. Is there any particular piece of it that's relevant, or "just watch the whole thing"? ;)
    - ThatPlayer 3y ago
      That's one of the Asahi Linux (the ARM Mac Linux) GPU driver developers trying random games on Steam on Linux on an ARM Mac. Showing it is possible to run games. Nothing too specific, you can just skim it to see what games are booting. I recognize Portal 2 and Battleblock Theater.
      - justinclift 3y ago
        Cool, that sounds kinda promising then. :)
cmeacham98 3y ago
Obviously you're at least partially correct, but I don't think that is the full story. "Few users" also describes Linux, but Linux (gaming) usershare is growing and recently passed MacOS usershare (as measured by Steam). I would argue that Apple's indifferent (if not hostile) attitude towards gaming has driven away many game developers.
- jerf 3y ago
  Linux is strategically important for Valve to maintain a credible alternative to Microsoft. Note they don't even have to necessarily ever "pull the trigger" to force Microsoft to make sure they don't lock them out, simply having the credible option to do so is sufficient to achieve their business goals. And having picked up a Steam Deck about a year ago now, going into it with the expectation that it would run maybe half my games and tending away from the AAA releases, I can say they have a very credible option. Valve can run almost everything without Microsoft now. Pretty much everything I have runs on my Deck just fine, since I don't do the multiplayer games that have aggressive anticheat on them. I almost don't even think about compatibility any more because it's just there, for what I do. This has spilled over to my Linux desktop, too; I switched it due to having my fill of Microsoft's belief they own my system, own my users, and can do whatever they like with them, and if that cut off all gaming it would have been fine with me, but in reality the spillover of Valve's efforts is that it works just fine. Apple has chosen to make themselves strategically unimportant to Valve by making it probably even more difficult to support them well than to just give up and submit to Microsoft entirely. They could have played this role but have chosen not to, because in their world, this is relatively minor compared to what they want out of their platform. So even if the user count is roughly the same, Valve is going to support Linux much more, and is pushing it harder.
- sleepybrett 3y ago
  Linux usershare grew because of the steamdeck.
  - k12sosse 3y ago
    Linux user share also grew because of the work Valve is putting in upstream to make gaming on Linux easier and more performant.
tapoxi 3y ago
I'm in this boat, for most games I use my PS5 because its got the big Sony AAA single-player exclusives. The Steam Deck is a perfect option for PC games that need a keyboard/mouse, like CS2, because you can plug it into any USB-C dock and use it as a desktop PC.
MegaDeKay 3y ago
If there was enough money on the table waiting to be picked up, Valve would know that. They have incredibly fine-grained detail of their user base on Steam, and they have multiple economists on staff to guide their decisions. It isn't worth it to them, and it isn't on them to bust out of that chicken and egg problem. They fixed the problem they already had (fear of Microsoft screwing them) by putting their eggs into the Linux basket. https://www.valvesoftware.com/en/jobs?job_id=4 https://www.valvesoftware.com/en/jobs?job_id=4
cjdoc29 3y ago
I certainly keep a latest-gen console around so that I can play cross-play enabled games with my PC buddies. I don't have the patience or space for another computer, so a console is the next best thing. I will never have the best graphics nor control over performance, but the trade-off is worth it.
eerikkivistik 3y ago
Regarding Baldur's Gate 3 on M1 Pro, can confirm, the performance is just amazing.
- lizardking 3y ago
  Indeed, I'm getting better performance than my 3 year old Windows machine with a 2070 gtx. I wasn't expecting gaming laptop performance from a mac, but I was pleasantly surprised.

justinclift 3y ago

Anyone know if Steam has ARM64 support? If so, then dual booting a mac into Linux for gaming purposes might be a workable option at some point.

_cenw 3y ago
Steam doesn't even have ARM64 support on Windows or macOS. And neither do most games.
- justinclift 3y ago
  Damn. Oh well. :/
ThatPlayer 3y ago
Steam doesn't even have a native x86_64-only Linux version, you still need x86 runtimes. Though it is possible to use FEX-EMU to run it on Linux on a Mac: https://youtu.be/_tG3kfgqPhc https://youtu.be/_tG3kfgqPhc
- justinclift 3y ago
  That's a 7 and a half hour video. Is there any particular piece of it that's relevant, or "just watch the whole thing"? ;)
  - ThatPlayer 3y ago
    That's one of the Asahi Linux (the ARM Mac Linux) GPU driver developers trying random games on Steam on Linux on an ARM Mac. Showing it is possible to run games. Nothing too specific, you can just skim it to see what games are booting. I recognize Portal 2 and Battleblock Theater.
    - justinclift 3y ago
      Cool, that sounds kinda promising then. :)

cmeacham98 3y ago

Obviously you're at least partially correct, but I don't think that is the full story. "Few users" also describes Linux, but Linux (gaming) usershare is growing and recently passed MacOS usershare (as measured by Steam). I would argue that Apple's indifferent (if not hostile) attitude towards gaming has driven away many game developers.

jerf 3y ago
Linux is strategically important for Valve to maintain a credible alternative to Microsoft. Note they don't even have to necessarily ever "pull the trigger" to force Microsoft to make sure they don't lock them out, simply having the credible option to do so is sufficient to achieve their business goals. And having picked up a Steam Deck about a year ago now, going into it with the expectation that it would run maybe half my games and tending away from the AAA releases, I can say they have a very credible option. Valve can run almost everything without Microsoft now. Pretty much everything I have runs on my Deck just fine, since I don't do the multiplayer games that have aggressive anticheat on them. I almost don't even think about compatibility any more because it's just there, for what I do. This has spilled over to my Linux desktop, too; I switched it due to having my fill of Microsoft's belief they own my system, own my users, and can do whatever they like with them, and if that cut off all gaming it would have been fine with me, but in reality the spillover of Valve's efforts is that it works just fine. Apple has chosen to make themselves strategically unimportant to Valve by making it probably even more difficult to support them well than to just give up and submit to Microsoft entirely. They could have played this role but have chosen not to, because in their world, this is relatively minor compared to what they want out of their platform. So even if the user count is roughly the same, Valve is going to support Linux much more, and is pushing it harder.
sleepybrett 3y ago
Linux usershare grew because of the steamdeck.
- k12sosse 3y ago
  Linux user share also grew because of the work Valve is putting in upstream to make gaming on Linux easier and more performant.

tapoxi 3y ago

I'm in this boat, for most games I use my PS5 because its got the big Sony AAA single-player exclusives. The Steam Deck is a perfect option for PC games that need a keyboard/mouse, like CS2, because you can plug it into any USB-C dock and use it as a desktop PC.

MegaDeKay 3y ago

If there was enough money on the table waiting to be picked up, Valve would know that. They have incredibly fine-grained detail of their user base on Steam, and they have multiple economists on staff to guide their decisions. It isn't worth it to them, and it isn't on them to bust out of that chicken and egg problem. They fixed the problem they already had (fear of Microsoft screwing them) by putting their eggs into the Linux basket. https://www.valvesoftware.com/en/jobs?job_id=4 https://www.valvesoftware.com/en/jobs?job_id=4

cjdoc29 3y ago

I certainly keep a latest-gen console around so that I can play cross-play enabled games with my PC buddies. I don't have the patience or space for another computer, so a console is the next best thing. I will never have the best graphics nor control over performance, but the trade-off is worth it.

eerikkivistik 3y ago

Regarding Baldur's Gate 3 on M1 Pro, can confirm, the performance is just amazing.

lizardking 3y ago
Indeed, I'm getting better performance than my 3 year old Windows machine with a 2070 gtx. I wasn't expecting gaming laptop performance from a mac, but I was pleasantly surprised.