While it's certainly possible that over the next few years, gaming really does take a big step forward on Mac, enabled by powerful Apple silicon chips, it's a bit ironic that the move away from Intel and the loss of the ability to natively run Windows, leaves the Mac currently in a bit of a gaming no-man's-land. I mean, if gaming actually gets serious and I can play the titles that I want to on Mac, then I'll spend my money on a high end Mac Studio or MacBook Pro, rather than a mid level MacBook Pro and dedicated gaming PC.
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Apple Discusses Push Towards High-End Mac Gaming in New Interview
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Totally. It'll be great if this is a consistent effort over the course of years. In the past, they'd do these announcements, add some new feature, then either let it languish or actively worsen the situation by doing things like abandoning OpenGL
It'll be awesome if this is real and they actually do the right steps to improve the situation
Until they buy or invest in a gaming studio I don’t foresee it being a consistent effort unfortunately.
Which is a shame because iOS/ipadOS seem like they have a decent selection of casual games. They just need to push towards the higher end. Maybe we’ll see that as the M chips become more and more ridiculously overpowered for the iPad’s current OS.
I’d love to be able to run games on my MacBook Pro and stream them to my Apple TV.
If Apple is serious about competing in the highly-competitive Gaming PC segment, then they better release Mac Studio with M3 Ultra in EARLY 2024.
The tech company on the planet I trust the least to shepherd this experience is Apple. A lean back pc experience would require way more attention to detail and per game level of testing than Apple would ever commit to. This is abandonware waiting to die already.
What a joke. Beside poor GPU performance, Mac platform is just a terrible system. Who really want to port their games to Mac? Almost none. There are only a few Mac gamers on Mac, Mac itself is too expensive, still closed system, and more. They really need to bring their own killer titles, gaming console with cheaper price, and make more games.
Seriously, they aren't really trying at all.
Seriously, they aren't really trying at all.
The bottom line is, few game developers will make Mac games (even if it is just a few clicks of a mouse to convert them now) due to the low market penetration of Macs. For games, console and Windows are still king. And heck, even Windows doesn't enjoy the support that consoles get.
Apple is usually slow to the party, but once they put their mind on something watch out. I think a lot of older gamers are going to start switching over to MacBooks and iMacs once they get start making high-end games available. This is all made possible with the M-series chips which have pretty ridiculous performance, it's about time.
Hmm, every home console since the N64 has had quite a bit of innovation. The GameCube with its lunch pale handle and mini-DVD, the Wii motion controller, followed by the Wii U and its tablet controller, then the hybrid Switch. Nintendo basically marches to its own beat and they don't pay attention and don't care what Sony and Microsoft are selling. They don't follow the other companies and that's what makes them special. It could be said that both the XBOX and PlayStation 5 are just better specs and that's all and lack any innovation.
The difference between Nintendo and the others is that they are in the videogame business to make money while both Sony and Microsoft are in the business to sell games to offset the losses in the hardware. Nintendo focuses on its 1st party games because they still have a HUGE appeal regardless of age. It is why you rarely see a Mario game similar to the previous one in the series. They always try to innovate the gameplay within their own games.
This.
Bringing over titles that have already launched on other platforms is fine.
But gaming today is about having exclusive rights titles and IP that others don't have but all gamers want to play.
If Apple never lays down the millions to purchase the exclusive rights to several brand new AAA titles then nothing will really change even if Macs get better and better at running games.
At the very least, they have to get several many AAA titles to launch on the same date that other platforms get them.
I don't see that happening. Not with people who can build their own rigs. Even Windows laptops can be upgraded to a degree. Macs have zero upgrade possibilities. No way to add a more powerful video card down the line.
Nice write up. Found out about a few new games too.
Stray is on sale right now for $10 off on the Mac App Store. $20 instead of $30.
Stray is on sale right now for $10 off on the Mac App Store. $20 instead of $30.
Does it matter when you can run AAA games at highest settings on a Mac laptop without the machine breaking a sweat vs a PC that is technically faster but runs at 400+ watts. You have resale value on that Mac when it’s time to upgrade and that Windows machine just gets scrapped.
I would think most serious gamers have desktops, not laptops. And those desktops can run graphics cards (e.g. the Nvidia 4090) at up to 80 teraflops. The best MacBook (I have the 40 core M3 Max) can do 16 tflops. The 4090 is around $1600. Even in a modest PC at $1000, you are still slightly cheaper than the stock M3 Max. 40 core. And the Nvidia card can be upgraded two years from now for a cheaper cost than buying an entire new MacBook would cost.
And any Mac Pro or other desktop just do not have the raw kind of video power that Nvidia cards can provide. Not to mention Mac Pros are hella-expensive.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a decent realistic golf game for my Mac. I got X-Plane for Mac for my flight fix. But games like golf, Madden, NHL and other sports games I love - I'm not counting on it.
I know when EVE Online was finally building a Mac port of the game, they didn’t think they would support M-series chips right away. What ever tools they used allowed both Intel and M-series the same day.
I believe the developer who assisted the Factorio team to port a native M-series was surprised by how easy it was and how efficient it was.
I like Indy or casual games in my Mac. Triple A is still generally on PS5.
Though, I would love medieval dynasty and stranded alien dawn to have Mac ports.
I believe the developer who assisted the Factorio team to port a native M-series was surprised by how easy it was and how efficient it was.
I like Indy or casual games in my Mac. Triple A is still generally on PS5.
Though, I would love medieval dynasty and stranded alien dawn to have Mac ports.
The fascination is trying to make a use case for users to upgrade regularly. The Apple silicon generation is causing a lot more users to hang on to their computers far longer than they did with Intel Macs because they meet peoples workflows exceptionally well. Long term that is a real problem for Apple. Hence the interest in finding something - anything really that will tempt more frequent upgrading. Other strategies like deliberately limiting RAM to limit performance and life of the chip and crippling the performance of the chips bus and cores (M3 Pro) to force upgrades to more profitable models are getting pushback and again, so is a finely curated and very cynically designed upgrade path for components on Mac. Longer term all these strategies could be a real headache for Apple as these strategies cause long term reputational damage to the brand as people know they are being conned. Basically the Mac has matured to the point its an appliance that gets the job done and now Apple is on a quest to find something new to bring in the dollars as the current base is getting fatigue at the upgrade cycle pace and the cost.
Unlikely, because Microsoft will build translation layers or emulators to support backwards compatibility in some way. Just look at how PPC Xbox games can run on x86 current gen Xboxes. And their efforts with back compat up scaling and speed boost.
I've been hearing this song & dance from Apple for the last 30+ years. While Apple has made some progress lately, it's made more blunders. Kneecapping gamers by cutting off 32bit support is just one example.
I would really love for Apple to get serious about gaming but two main issues stand in their way:
1. Gamers love customizing and building their rigs. Apple provides no such option.
2. Windows. Most gamers are Windows (and buy a smaller margin, Linux) users who absolutely despise and want nothing whatsoever to do with anything Apple.
I'm not holding my breath that either of those two change
I would really love for Apple to get serious about gaming but two main issues stand in their way:
1. Gamers love customizing and building their rigs. Apple provides no such option.
2. Windows. Most gamers are Windows (and buy a smaller margin, Linux) users who absolutely despise and want nothing whatsoever to do with anything Apple.
I'm not holding my breath that either of those two change
Partners with Nvidia or AMD installed for AAA games or it is not happening. End of story. Not that Apple couldn't make it happen I just don't see it. Why after all these years would Apple care about gaming with high end games now? Money yes. Issues yes.
Mac mini would not be mini and Mac laptops would not be light if you want horse power you got to use lots of energy.
Sipping power is not a guaranty of high end games. Race cars use lots of energy for a reason. Heck look up the battery Racers out there now. Amazing the Battery power they use in those races. Smoke and mirrors and gamers Know this.
Mac mini would not be mini and Mac laptops would not be light if you want horse power you got to use lots of energy.
Sipping power is not a guaranty of high end games. Race cars use lots of energy for a reason. Heck look up the battery Racers out there now. Amazing the Battery power they use in those races. Smoke and mirrors and gamers Know this.
If AMD made a true 4090 competitor, my gaming rig would be all red. Even though DLSS needs to be used on the latest titles, I love playing 4K120.
It will either be poverty spec at just 8gb of RAM and 256gb SSD (BG3 eats up over 122gb and runs crappy on 8GB even when you really turn down settings, unless 30fps is your thing), or well overpriced at $999. apple will not release a console for $500 that has better specs than base Mac mini.
Hate to say it, but consoles (Xbox X or PS5) are still better gaming rigs than any other platform, PC or Mac. Most bang for the buck.