Apple Silicon: Will Steam Ban Games On Rosetta 2?

Thanks to Rosetta 2, the transition from Intel to Apple Silicon has become seamless for users. Despite everything, the improved application of the new architecture takes advantage of better performance, which is especially important for the most greedy people and especially for gamers. The first improved titles started appearing, but they are still there A priori A major sticking point: steam.

This PC gaming heavyweight isn’t optimized for the Mac M1s and the macOS app relies on Rosetta 2 to run. Its moderator role can at the same time block games purchased from this store. Upon launch, they should remain on macOS’s built-in emulation layer for now, even if designers also offer an enhanced version of Apple Silicon.

Anyway, that’s what Viral explains in its frequently asked questions about Game Total War: Rome Remastered. While this title will be powered by Apple Silicon at release – scheduled for April 29 – and will be delivered directly as a global binary, the distributed and managed version via Steam will still be reserved for Intel Macs. The game will work either way on the Mac M1, but via Rosetta 2’s It runs through Steam While the game offered on the Mac App Store will be optimized for both builds.

Feral explicitly states that the problem is with Steam, but this is the first time we know that. Apple Silicon enhanced games are still very rare and one of the first, World of Warcraft, It is not distributed by Steam. for Baldur Gate 3Highlighted by Apple during the presentation of the new Macs, the improved version is still not distributed and the game is still based on Rosetta 2 for the time being.

While it is true that Steam is limiting macOS games to Rosetta, we can also conclude that an improved Apple Silicon version of the store was not planned quickly. One could imagine Feral would not have communicated about this matter if the company had known that an update was coming in the next few weeks. It seems that patience is required and it may be necessary to prefer games sold on the Mac App Store or via other channels at this time.