After months of closed beta, Valve officially launched Counter-Strike 2 on Steam last week. However, the newly updated game only supports Windows and Linux, and there is no macOS this time. Moreover, Valve confirmed that there are no plans to release "Counter-Strike 2" on macOS.
In a Steam Support FAQ, the company said it would be discontinuing support for older hardware, including DirectX9 and 32-bit operating systems. As part of the move, the company will also no longer support macOS.
According to Valve, DirectX9, 32-bit and macOS systems combined account for less than 1% of active Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players. Therefore, Counter-Strike2 will only support 64-bit versions of Windows and Linux. The original text is as follows:
As technology advances, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue support for older hardware, including DirectX9 and 32-bit operating systems. Likewise, we will no longer support macOS. Together, these people represent less than one percent of active CS:GO players.
This announcement comes after a 26GB update for CS:GO made the game unplayable on macOS systems. While Valve is offering refunds for Prime status upgrades for Mac users, it marks the end of official support and development for one of the most enduring game series on Apple devices.
CS:GO launched in 2012 but remains extremely popular, with tens of millions of players every month. Valve's end of support for macOS players may disappoint a few players, even if they make up less than 1% of the total user base.
Behind this, Apple's lack of native Vulkan graphics API support is a challenge for game developers. While the open source MoltenVK library brings Vulkan to the Mac, it lacks some of the advanced features Counter-Strike2 requires.