The gaming platform will no longer have to rely on Rosetta 2 to run on Macs with M-Series chips.
The gaming platform will no longer have to rely on Rosetta 2 to run on Macs with M-Series chips.
Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge
Emma Roth is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.
Steam will soon fully support Macs equipped with Apple’s in-house chips. In the latest Steam client beta spotted by 9to5Mac, Valve says the “Steam Client and Steam Helper apps now run natively on Apple Silicon.”
That means Steam will no longer need to use Rosetta 2 to run on Macs with M-series chips. Rosetta 2 is the emulator that allows Intel-based apps to run on Apple Silicon’s ARM architecture. Native support for Apple Silicon should make Steam run more smoothly.
The update follows Apple’s announcement that it will stop launching major updates for Intel-based Macs after macOS Tahoe. The company has also confirmed that Rosetta 2 will only be available through macOS 27. “Beyond this timeframe, we will keep a subset of Rosetta functionality aimed at supporting older unmaintained gaming titles, that rely on Intel-based frameworks,” Apple says.
You can try out the Steam beta by opening the app on your Mac, selecting . From there, look for the “Client Beta Participation” heading, and select from the dropdown menu. Steam will then prompt you to relaunch the app.
