How To Download A Game To A Mac

  1. Games For Mac Os X
  2. How To Download A Game To A Computer

The game is powered remotely and is sent to your Mac at high speeds via the internet - so high, in fact, that the lag isn't noticeable on a decent internet connection, even in online multiplayer.

Steam is the world’s most popular digital PC games store — an online platform for downloading games straight to your computer instead of shopping at traditional retail outlets. The platform was launched to great success in 2003 thanks to the parent company, Valve, releasing it alongside one of the most highly anticipated PC games of all time: Half-Life 2. The company strategically ensured that Half-Life 2 couldn’t be played without downloading or registering the game on Steam, which was a controversial move but also the world’s first push into digital distribution. Since then, Steam continued to grow rapidly as dated formats like CD and DVD became obsolete.

Today, lots of Mac users are still wondering: does Steam work on Mac? Truth is, for many years, Mac users had very little access to the most recent games. Although Steam was originally Windows exclusive, it eventually began to support Macs too — with a catch.

Mac

Set up your Mac for gaming

  • Mac App Store is the simplest way to find and download apps for your Mac. To download apps from the Mac App Store, you need a Mac with OS X 10.6.6 or later.
  • If you want to download the GTA5 game on a Mac computer you will need to enter a website called Macgames4you, the link for the free download of the game is available on this site. To start the download, just locate and press the button that contains the Apple icon, present just below the description of the game.

Unveil the best gaming gems among Setapp’s 180+ Mac apps. Best of all, you can get them all in one package.

How Does Steam Work On Mac?

The main reason for Steam not initially supporting Macs was them containing proprietary hardware that game developers struggled to cater for. Macs generally didn’t have the same gaming-oriented hardware that Windows PC users enjoyed, such as high-performance CPU chips and video cards. Additionally, Windows made it easier for game developers to interface with their hardware using widely supported API tools such as DirectX.

The lack of games on Mac wasn’t only due to hardware and software, but also the business model as a whole. In the early 2000s, Apple was more concerned with their suite of creative applications and music software rather than games. As gaming became more popular, the company struggled to enter the market through their own App Store, as competing products had already captured market share.

Thankfully, Macs shifted away from their own hardware to common X86 platforms used by Windows PCs, which included Intel chips and leading video card brands like AMD and Nvidia. Suddenly, gaming on Macs became viable — in an effort to reinvent the industry Apple is releasing Arcade this fall, its gaming subscription service for all the Apple devices. But while we are yet to see what is Apple hiding up its sleeve, Steam has already jumped on the opportunity to make it work.

How to install Steam on Mac

Now is a better time than ever for gamers on Mac, thanks to greater Steam support and more powerful hardware parts. So if you’re wondering how to download Steam for Mac, you’re in the right place. Follow the instructions below and you’ll be ready to get your Mac games download going in no time:

  1. Navigate to steampowered.com

  2. Click the Install Steam on the top right of the screen

  3. On the next page, click Install Steam (make sure the Apple logo is next to the button, the browser should have automatically detected you’re on a Mac)

  4. When the Steam download for Mac is finished, click on steam.dmg

  5. From the new window, drag steam into Applications

  6. The install should now be complete. Test it by opening Steam from your Dock or Applications folder.

There are a few considerations to keep in mind if you’re thinking about installing Steam on Mac. First, you’ll want to ensure you meet the minimum requirements. Second, most of the popular games use a traditional two-button mouse configuration, whereas many of Apple’s mice only have one by default. You can usually update the settings of your mouse, including the Apple Magic Mouse, to use a two-button style in your System Preferences. Finally, you’ll want to ensure your Mac is optimized for the best gaming performance.

How to download games on Steam

Despite Macs now having a more viable hardware platform for game developers, you’ll find that not all best Steam games for Mac are the same as Windows. Game developers still have to make accommodations for their games to run properly, most often quality assurance testing and specific Mac updates. In such an environment, here’s how you can find the best Mac games on Steam:

  1. Open Steam from your Dock or Applications folder

  2. Create a new account or log in if you already have one

  3. All featured games (on the first page) should be Mac-compatible (identified by the Apple logo)

  4. Double-click on any title to learn more about it

  5. Click “Add to Card” and then “Purchase for Myself”

  6. Choose Install Game Now

  7. The Steam downloader will automatically start in the background and notify you when complete. Your game will then become available from the Library tab.

A helpful trick for first-time users is to take advantage of the Wishlist function, which adds games to a watchlist and notifies you when they are on sale. You can find the Wishlist button on the game page, near the “Add to Cart” button.

Additionally, you might want to begin your gaming journey with some free games for Mac. In Steam, navigate to the Store tab, then Games, and then Free-to-Play. You can download any of these following the same instructions as purchasing games.

If you find certain games are running slow, especially online, you may want to troubleshoot your internet connection. Mac users have a fantastic option for identifying internet issues in an application called WiFi Explorer.

WiFi Explorer automatically scans your network for coverage conflicts and then suggests tips for resolving them. In just a few seconds, you can see how well your WiFi network is performing, the strength of the signal when you move around your place, and your signal-to-noise ratio — so you can go back to gaming ASAP.

How to uninstall steam on Mac

If you’ve finished a game, or you’re trying to free up space on your drive, you may want to uninstall a Steam game on Mac. But you might be wondering: where does Steam install games? The answer is relatively complex, as Mac structures its application files in such a way that accessing them in the Library can be difficult when compared to the Windows File Explorer. Thankfully, uninstalling games on Steam is easy with its built-in file wizard for Mac. Here’s how to uninstall Steam games on Mac:

  1. Open Steam, then navigate to the Games Library

  2. Right-click on a game and choose Uninstall from the dropdown

  3. Click Uninstall on the confirmation window. The game will be removed automatically from your Mac.

If you’re looking to uninstall the Steam application itself entirely from your Mac, it’s best to uninstall your games first to ensure nothing gets left behind. After that, simply dragging Steam into the Trash wouldn’t be ideal. If you want the most reliable way possible to uninstall Steam on your Mac, you may want to consider using an application designed to do this thoroughly.

Free up space for new games

Get CleanMyMac X, a powerful app uninstaller and Mac cleaner. Win more space for the most interesting Steam games.

CleanMyMac X is a popular tool for Mac users that lets you uninstall applications and wipe their footprint completely from your drive (simply go to the Uninstaller tab, scan your Mac, and remove). Plus it grants you access to one-click optimization and other handy features such as browser privacy configuration.

Now that you know how Steam works, and how to install and uninstall games for Mac, you’re ready for gaming with confidence.

Best of all, WiFi Explorer and CleanMyMac X, which can help you craft the best gaming experience possible, are available for free via 7-day trial with Setapp, a software suite with more than 150 Mac apps to solve tech issues, increase your productivity, and express your creative side as well. Now let’s play!

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All Mac® users know about the Mac App Store®, and most have probably used it to get an app or two. If you’re also a Parallels Desktop® for Mac user, there’s another store you should check out: the Microsoft Store.

The Microsoft Store is accessible from Windows 8 or 10—but in all practical terms, this means onlvidy Windows 10, since Windows 8 is used so rarely these days.

The Microsoft Store is for all things to play or consume on Windows 10: movies, music, apps, books, fonts, extensions to the Edge browser, and even hardware. In Apple® terms, it’s iTunes®, the Mac App Store, iBooks®, and the Apple Store® all rolled into one. However, in this blog post, I will focus mainly on apps available from the Microsoft Store.

Games For Mac Os X

Accessing the Store

Just as Apple has the App Store app, Microsoft has the Microsoft Store app. (See Figure 1.)

Here are some apps I have downloaded from the Microsoft Store, none of which are available on the Mac App Store:

GamesProductivityLearningJust Interesting
Age of Empires: Castle SiegeMicrosoft WhiteboardKakitai: Learn Japanese by WritingNebo*
Crossy Road*Office 365 Home*Sensavis Visual Learning ToolPlumbago
Microsoft MahjongSway*Penbook
Age of Empires: Definitive EditionDelve*GestureSign
Age of SpartaMicrosoft MathMicrosoft Font Maker
Translator*
Fluid Math

*Available for the iPhone®/iPad® in the Apple App Store.

All of these apps run fine for me on my MacBook Pro® in a Windows 10 VM using Parallels Desktop 14—with the single exception of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. I used every setting I know to get this app to run with acceptable performance, but in the end, I gave up. (Age of Empires is my favorite game of all time, as I posted back in 2014.)

You can predict whether an app in the Microsoft Store will run in Parallels Desktop by looking at its system requirements from within your virtual machine. (See Figure 2.)

How To Download A Game To A Computer

Figures 3–5 show some other apps from the Microsoft Store running in Parallels Desktop on my MacBook Pro.

How to download a game to a laptop

Video 1 shows some games from the Microsoft Store running in Parallels Desktop 14 on my MacBook Pro:

And Video 2 shows some of the 3D models available for the Sensavis Visual Learning Tool:

As of today, there are about 800,000 Windows 10 apps in the Microsoft Store, as opposed to only about 11,000 in the Mac App Store. There are a number of excellent apps in both stores, and the Mac user with Parallels Desktop can take advantage of both to find the perfect app for your needs.

Have you found a particularly useful or novel app on the Microsoft Store? If so, tell us about it in the comments.