Game streaming: Steam Link now supports 8k and runs on Macs

Steam Link is now streaming local games with 8k resolution and also with Macs. Even friends who have neither a PC nor a Steam account can play via “Remote”. However, there are limitations.

The market-dominating platform of the games company Valve is going its own way in terms of streaming. Games must be running on the local computer in order to be played from other devices. So far this has worked for Windows and Linux computers. The associated app Steam Link is now back in the Mac App Store. Apple had thrown out the app when it first tried it a few years ago because they didn’t want game streaming on MacOS. Mac users can now participate in streamed Steam games again – including PC games, of course. Previously, in the Apple world, this was only possible via iPad, iPhone or Apple TV. To stream yourself, you still need the regular Steam software.

Play Cyberpunk on the iPhone

The operator quietly put the program in the Mac App Store, report the colleagues from 9to5mac. If you download and start it, you can connect the Mac to a computer with an existing Steam installation. You don’t need a login for this. It is also possible to connect to multiple hosts and accounts at the same time. A four-digit PIN, which is displayed at the beginning, is used for authentication. Logically, multiplayer games are primarily suitable. However, there are also games that do not offer online multiplayer and can only get this via Steam Link, so to speak. The Steam app has so far been Intel-only and therefore runs on M1 Macs in Rosetta emulation. Voices on Reddit therefore recommend switching to Moonlight, a local streaming service that only works on devices with Nvidia graphics. Most recently, Nvidia’s streaming service Geforce Now caused a sensation with a native client for M1 Macs. It runs independently of the built-in graphics.

Steam upgrades Link further

Steam Link recently added another feature in an equally quiet way: games can now be streamed in 8k. One can argue about whether there is already hardware with which this makes sense. The Remote Play update is a more sensible addition: friends can now be invited to a stream via any route – without a PC, without a Steam account. The respective device downloads the client and off you go. Previously, invitees first had to log into Steam in order to accept the invitation and participate. That falls away and every barrier that falls away makes playing together more attractive.

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