Coming to the Mac.

MARCH 8, 2010 • Steam, Valve Inc.’s digital download service will support the Mac platform starting in April. Valve’s library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available.

Impact: In DFC’s recently launched Consumer Trends and Virtual Goods report that included a survey of 5,000 PC gamers across the US, Europe and UK, 25% indicated they owned an iPhone or iPod Touch.  Apple’s footprint among gamers is only increasing so any effort to increasing gaming accessibility on native Mac operating systems will be widely accepted.  As a long time supporter of the mod development community on the PC, Valve has an opportunity to lure many Mac enthusiasts to try computer games development given the high overlap of aspiring and professional content creators who already use the Apple platform.  While unlikely to have a huge immediate impact on the balance of power between PC and Mac gaming, this is an important first step before any significant rise in Mac share of the gaming market can occur.