So Steam for Mac has been officially launched, after the beta's several month run. I think this was a long time coming and a lot of effort has been put in by Valve to officially support the platform, much to Apple's and Mac gamer's joy.
Theres a sizeable list of available games, although not very common games currently make the majority. The AAA highlights are Portal and Civilization IV. Some popular indie games like World Of Goo, Galcon and Machinarium are also in there. By supporting Portal Valve showcase that their Source engine works and undoubtedly other Source games are just around the corner such as Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead(s) and Half-Life 2 episodes. All games are "Buy once. Play it on Mac or PC' which is a nice feature and a step towards the ubiquitous gaming platform idea.
Valve distributing others and publishing their own games to Mac has very large, if not enormous ramifications for Codeweaver's Crossover Games software and Transgaming's Gametree distribution service. Both different business models, both affected by Valve's Mac move. (Im going to ignore any other Mac game distribution platform for the time being)
A quick look at Crossover's supported games site shows top games are Steam related and whilst are not on Steam for Mac just yet (other than Portal), with Source support will probably be available very soon. This means there's instantly no need to keep using Crossover Games software if your favourite game(s) are available on Steam, especially since its an officially supported method of playing the game. To be fair Crossover still has 2000+ games in some state of working or testing available for Mac gamers to play which will take Valve some time to catchup.
Transgaming Gametree website works differently - for some games they partner with developers and publishers to package their Cider software to enable Windows games on Mac. For other developers a platform to sell their already working Mac game through a growing channel. So for the latter thats direct competition with Steam for Mac. The advantage with Gametree is no Steam log-in before playing the game - games are downloaded and are a native executable like another other installed application. Steam has come a long way but the initial days on the PC were just frustrating.
To add to Gametree's competition though is the same game being available already. At launch, and probably deliberately, is World Of Goo @ USD$19.99 by itself and also for the same price in a 5-Indie Game pack which also includes And Yet It Moves, Osmos, Machinarium, Galcon Fusion. Gametree has been selling World Of Goo for USD$19.99 for some time. Also Quantz retailing on Steam For Mac @ USD$9.99 and on special for USD$3.00 sells on Gametree for USD$12.99.
Crossover and Transgaming have both helped gamers 'crossover'/'transgame' from Windows. They need to now re-evaluate their offerings as the Steam bulldozer rolls in. Its great news however for Mac gaming and players, and also cross-platform gaming all-round.
I believe also that Mac and Windows gamers using Steam can join the same servers! I think thats cool. Wish this was the case for console and PC but thats another blog.
Some more reading:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/05/steam-for-macs-launches-with-free-portal-63-games.ars
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