Mac gamers still running macOS 11 Big Sur are warned that Valve has announced that its Steam Client will stop running on your Mac as of October 15.
From the Steam Support blog post, shared by Redditor wickedplayer494:
“This change is required as core features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of macOS. In addition, future versions of Steam will require macOS feature and security updates only present in macOS 12 and above.”
This means that if your Mac is still running macOS 11, it will no longer be able to run Steam, or any game or application you might have purchased and downloaded through Steam. You will be required to update your Mac to a later version of the Mac operating system.
Valve encourages Mac users to update their machines if possible, due to security reasons:
“We strongly encourage all macOS 11 users to update sooner rather than later. Apple ended security updates and technical support for macOS 11 in 2023. Computers running these operating systems, when connected to the internet, are susceptible to new malware and other exploits which will not be patched. That malware can cause your computer, Steam and games to perform poorly or crash. That malware can also be used to steal the credentials for your Steam account or other services.”
For more information about upgrading your machine’s macOS operating system click here.
Valve recently released a beta version of its Steam for Mac client, offering support for Macs powered by Apple’s M-series chips.
The update will allow the Steam client to free itself of the performance hit that Mac gamers have been forced to deal with ever since Apple transitioned its Mac lineup to its own chips. The Steam app uses a Chromium browser-based interface, which will now run natively on Apple Silicon, rather than via Intel emulation.
Apple during WWDC25 announced that Rosetta 2 will remain available through macOS 27. Starting with macOS 28, Apple said that only a limited version of Rosetta 2 will remain available for older games that rely on Intel-based frameworks. macOS 28 will be released in 2027.
