Summary
For decades the idea of gaming on a Mac has been seen as a joke by “hardcore” gamers, but that wasn’t always the case, and maybe in the near future the Mac’s gaming credentials will return.
Macs Used to Be the Best Gaming Computers
When PC gaming was still just PC speaker bleeps and bloops, Apple computers offered a gaming experience on another level. Games likeKarateka,Prince of Persia,Oregon Trail, andUltima 1on the Apple II set the standard for high-end gaming in the late 70s and early 80s. By the 90s every major game worth mentioning had a Mac version, and titles likeMystand theMarathonTrilogy by Bungie showed that Mac was a serious gaming platform, even if it only catered to a much smaller segment of the personal computer market than it does today. Heck, the firstHalogame was set to be a Mac exclusive,announced by Steve Jobs himself. Sure, it was a totally different style of game at that point, but it was still on everyone’s radar.
From there, the shift to Intel from PowerPC made porting Windows games to Mac easier, but the results weren’t always stellar, and when Apple killed 32-bit app support for macOS Catalina, making most of the Mac back catalog unplayable, it didn’t help. Still, anyone who doesn’t think of the Mac as an important gaming platform has to completely ignore the points in its long existence where it was leading gaming technology or highly influential.
Apple Is Taking Gaming Seriously
While Apple may have lost focus on gaming, and its latter Intel-based systems usually lacked the GPU power to play anything well, things are very different now. Thanks to the technology the company developed for iPhone and iPad, and its experience with being a gaming platform there, Apple Silicon is a serious hardware platform for games. Even the lowliest M1 Apple Silicon systems are comparable in performance to the last-generation consoles millions of people are still actively using to this day, and its second and third generation of Apple Silicon chips have raised that floor right into current-generation gaming territory.
It’s not just the hardware that’s ready to game. Apple has its own API known as Metal, and includes AI-upscaling technology in the form ofMetalFX. Controller support is universal across macOS and the iOS family. Apple has even created a special porting kit which makes it as easy as possible for developers to port their Windows games to Mac. All the groundwork for an Apple gaming renaissance is in place, now the games have to come.
Developers Need to Take It Seriously (and Some Are)
A platform that’s technically ready for gaming is necessary but no sufficient for Mac gaming to be taken seriously. You need the games that people want to play to come to Mac. Apple has put in some effort in this area as well, working with some developers to bring big-name titles such asResident Evil 8orDeath Strandingto Apple Silicon.
Even without any prodding from Apple, therise in computer market sharethat Apple has undergone in the past few years is surely attracting the attention of developers who are looking to expand their potential customer base. If you look at the2024 Game Awards nomineesseveral of these games have native Mac versions, includingBaldur’s Gate 3,Resident Evil 4 Remake, andDave the Diver. Perusing Steam on macOS, and you’ll see a long list of new and older games that are either native to Apple Silicon or will run viaRosetta, and even the humbleM1 MacBook Aircan run most of these titles well.
If you have a modern M1 Silicon Mac, you should definitely grab a controller, or hook up a decent mouse and see which of the games you already own has a Mac version. You may be surprised at how competent and solid the experience has become. All those MacBook Air owners may have no idea that they have a potent little portable gaming machine in their bag, and if you have one of the higher-end Apple Silicon MacBooks or desktop Macs with more powerful GPUs, you might have a great gaming system right there without knowing it.
While I still can’t say that anyone should buy a Mac for gaming yet, I can say that if you need a Mac for any other reason, you should definitely try gaming on it, and if you like it, let Apple, developers, and your friends know about it. There’s a chicken-and-egg situation with gaming on Macs where no one will port or make games without demand, and there won’t be demand without people playing games on their Macs. Which means if you’re a gamer and a Mac fan, you need to do your bit to make it more attractive for game developers across the globe.
