So did Apple give up on gaming?

[mcnallym]

A lot of business software moving to SaaS where basically what in front of you is simply browser and connected to portal. So the device in front of you is choice.

Apple hardware been capable of supporting games but developers not done so as DirectX and games consoles where the money is.

Even a lot of pc games are console ports.

Apple gaming is now on the arcade ie iPad/iPhone even AppleTV

However whilst the high end may grab the headlines, AMD, Nvidia actually make the vast majority of profits on the mid range products that ship in volume.

Gamers THINK they are the money but the mid range high volume products are where the GPU makers actually make there money.

Is why I run Macs/iPad and have a windows machine for gaming. Simply is not worth it to Apple to chase the gamer market with a Mac.

You might not like it but is the truth.

Apple concentrates on where it wants to, either the product meets your needs or doesn’t but gaming isn’t where Apple sees money on Mac and neither do the developers.

 

[danvalor]

I had a glimmer of hope that the Mac Pro was going to mean we would get VR gaming support for Mac but that does not appear to be the case. I mean, basically zero typical consumers even buy that machine.

I have a custom built PC with all Hackintosh friendly parts but when time came to install macOS I just couldn't deal with the idea of having to reboot every time I wanted to use PC VR.

 

[HQNYC]

When the game studios realize that there is money to be made on the powerful M1 MBP, they'll flock over. They don't care right now because intel Apple computers suck for gaming.

What they do know now is that M1 computers are a different beast.

Anyways, my son will get my M1 computer. I've placed an M1 Max (32 GPU) order today and I can't wait for it to arrive in my hands.

 

[sunny5]

The problem is macOS itself is extremely hostile to the gaming industry and not profitable.

1. There aren't many Mac gamers.
One of the biggest reason why PC games aren't being ported to macOS. Literally, only 3% from Steam are Mac players with Intel Mac. Imagine if it was Apple Silicon Mac.

2. The market size of macOS is too small.
Since there aren't many Mac gamers, the market size for macOS is too niche. Also, the OS share already proves that Mac users are way more less than Windows users. Velheim developers explained that there aren't many Mac users so not profitable.

3. macOS is now ARM, not x86.
Most games are x86 based. That explained a lot. At least Intel Mac had no problem to port PC games to Mac cause they were all x86. But not any more. You may say what about Nintendo? Well, they have their own IPs to attract players such as Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Poketmon, and more.

4. There aren't any killer titles.
Both Xbox and Playstation's performance isn't great and yet there are quite a lot of players because they have killer titles such as God of War, Halo, Gears of war, and more. Do macOS have any of those? Not at all. It's like Final Cut Pro X is the reason why people use Mac and macOS.

5. macOS lacks gaming support.
Almost all games developed from PC and there are many supports that macOS do not have such as ray tracing, direct storage, DLSS, and more. Metal itself is not widely use and only for Macs. Since many PC/Console games are PC based, dont expect to compete with PC/Console.

6. Apple's main focus is mobile gaming, not PC/Console games.
The total revenue of mobile game is more than PC+Console and Apple is dominating that market. Why would they spend their time and money one PC games?

 

[chumps]

If Apple really does push hard into gaming I suspect we'll see an announcement during next year's WWDC. Personally, I think there will be a strong push towards gaming. API wise there is extremely robust controller support, raytracing stuff, and obviously w/ PS5/XBOX Series X level SoC's the hardware support is there. That is a lot of work on the software level to simply be an also-ran in terms of game support. Ultimately it's up to devs to support Mac gaming but one can't really blame Apple at this point, they have worked hard to create a robust foundation for gaming.

 

[robco74]

Honestly, to really make gaming appealing on the Mac, Apple would need to release consumer level machines with these chips. I would love to see a larger MBA option that has M1 Pro, but skips the mini-LED display, fancy audio, etc. to hit a lower price point.

 

[chumps]

Honestly, to really make gaming appealing on the Mac, Apple would need to release consumer level machines with these chips. I would love to see a larger MBA option that has M1 Pro, but skips the mini-LED display, fancy audio, etc. to hit a lower price point.

Next year's Air's and minis should get close at a reasonable price. But still it's contingent on devs supporting macOS which is a big ask.

 

[bradbomb]

edit: Slack is another app that might not work with the M1 chip.

Slack is Apple Silicon Native

 

[Tagbert]

It’s not just the OS though. It’s the chip itself. You can have the most amazing fastest chip possible but if the enterprise apps can’t be ported over because of apps design then the chip is irrelevant. Developers won’t develop for a chip that’s brand new and no port tools available from apple.

What are you smoking. For the majority of apps that were working on Intel Macs, the porting is checking the box marked “universal app” and hit “compile”. Yes, a commercial app will want to do testing and there may be some profiling to optimize performance but mostLy you just get a faster running app with very little effort.

Gaming is different since they often don’t use standard system libraries to talk to the graphics hardware. If they were using Metal before, it’s not hard, but if they are using direct Nvidia calls, then you won’t find an easy solution. Frankly, games don’t interest me so I’m not bothered.

 

[Tagbert]

For business software there’s Jamf, sketch, java, global protect VPN, snag it, crowdstrike, office 365 apps for enterprise, Veeam Mac backup agent, webex, teams, jet brains products like Rubymine… I think there are others. Mimecast might be one. There’s also the adobe suite but Adobe has an M1 version if I recall.

edit: Slack is another app that might not work with the M1 chip.

No, Slack works fine on M1.

You seem to be guessing a lot about whether apps are compatible or not. You should look here and get a more definitive answer: https://isapplesiliconready.com/

You will see tons if apps are are already optimized for Apple Silicon and another large group that are running faster than ever on Rosetta. Very few apps don’t work at all.

 

[darngooddesign]

Gaming gave up on Apple.

 

[chumps]

Gaming gave up on Apple.

Correct. But from a dev's point of view I'd imagine it'd be easier to test and optimize a handful of Apple SKU's vs a trillion PC hardware configurations? Gaming is pretty healthy on iOS so over time I imagine it will trickle down to the Mac.

 

[Ethosik]

As a game developer, Apple's issue is not hardware or APIs. It is purely marketshare. I am making my game for Windows only because that is where the most gamers are in terms of computers. The R&D/Testing costs of implementing a macOS version of my game costs more than my potential sales figured for macOS. And my game is not that complex, the Macbook Air M1 can play it.

Apple can make the Macbook Air have equivalent of an RTX 3090 and the APIs be dead simple - yet I would still develop for Windows only due to that is where everyone is.

 

[altaic]

As a game developer, Apple's issue is not hardware or APIs. It is purely marketshare. I am making my game for Windows only because that is where the most gamers are in terms of computers. The R&D/Testing costs of implementing a macOS version of my game costs more than my potential sales figured for macOS. And my game is not that complex, the Macbook Air M1 can play it.

Apple can make the Macbook Air have equivalent of an RTX 3090 and the APIs be dead simple - yet I would still develop for Windows only due to that is where everyone is.

I’m curious, do you license an engine and if so is it cross-platform? I’m wondering if your comment applies to popular cross-platform engines.

 

[darkgremio]

I find the streaming services suffice for my gaming itch. I would rather have portability over a turbine jet engine computer. My Razer laptop sounds like it’s ready to take off for flight whenever I start up a game. At least thermal management is done properly on a Mac. Stadia and xCloud really do fit the bill for me especially when on a fiber based connection. It’s almost getting the point where my M1 iPad Pro does everything I need, but I can’t use Excel to its full capabilities and multi tasking is here, but not the granularity you gave with MacOS

 

[Kazgarth]

In addition to the fact that mobile gaming is the prime market. Their upcoming focus is going to be on VR gaming, it's gonna take a lot of effort to develop VR gaming APIs. And making their VR headset software accessible for all the Oculus quest developers to easily adopt it.

 

[sevoneone]

In addition to the fact that mobile gaming is the prime market. Their upcoming focus is going to be on VR gaming, it's gonna take a lot of effort to develop VR gaming APIs. And making their VR headset software accessible for all the Oculus quest developers to easily adopt it.

This is the most intelligent comment here. Apple is playing a long game, eh... on gaming. Apple Silicon and Metal puts them in a solid position for VR/AR.

 

[tonyunreal]

I know this isn't exactly what OP meant, but all four variants of World of Warcraft (Classic Era, Classic Seasons, Burning Crusade Classic, Retail) run wonderfully and natively on the M1. The former two even have FidelityFX Super Resolution support so they can run at upscaled 4K resolutions.

 

[Janichsan]

I found it very telling how Apple yesterday avoided the topic games completely, despite their claims about their new GPU's power. It was almost as if "game" is a four-letter-word for them...

At this point it’s clear these MacBooks have plenty of power to run demanding games.

...but no demanding games to run.

Linux and Proton sends regards.

As good as Proton has become, it's still a crutch. One glance at the ProtonDB shows that there are still many games which don't run particularly well or not at all.

 

[Mr Screech]

Apple is a tiny fraction of global computing.
I wouldn't expect developers putting in hours to port it unless Apple is going to pay the bill.
So it's really up to Apple, not the developers.

 

[Jorbanead]

...but no demanding games to run.

Yes. That was my point. It’s up to the developers to make games that run natively. Until M1 - 70% of all macs sold did not even have the hardware capable of playing demanding games so it wasn’t lucrative. Time will tell if they feel it’s lucrative now. I think it’s too early to make any sort of call on Mac gaming.

 

[leman]

Apple is a tiny fraction of global computing.

But a large fraction of global premium computing...

I wouldn't expect developers putting in hours to port it unless Apple is going to pay the bill.
So it's really up to Apple, not the developers.

This is really up to users. For the first time in twenty years, Apple users have machines that can run demanding games with acceptable quality. If Apple users want to play games, they can most certainly reach the critical mass that will make game ports profitable. I mean, a lot of studios were porting games to Mac even when the performance was 1/3-1/4 of what we have today. So it might profitable at some level.

Bigger issue is culture. The mainstream gamer community is very hostile towards Apple.

 

[Janichsan]

Until M1 - 70% of all macs sold did not even have the hardware capable of playing demanding games so it wasn’t lucrative. Time will tell if they feel it’s lucrative now. I think it’s too early to make any sort of call on Mac gaming.

There hasn't changed much here.

Even if the standard M1 is really good for an integrated CPU, it's by far not powerful enough for the modern truly demanding games. And the Macs with new chips powerful enough are so expensive that they will remain a minority in a minority.

 

[altaic]

But a large fraction of global premium computing...



This is really up to users. For the first time in twenty years, Apple users have machines that can run demanding games with acceptable quality. If Apple users want to play games, they can most certainly reach the critical mass that will make game ports profitable. I mean, a lot of studios were porting games to Mac even when the performance was 1/3-1/4 of what we have today. So it might profitable at some level.

Bigger issue is culture. The mainstream gamer community is very hostile towards Apple.

I'm wondering how many gamers would appreciate a dual use computer that is a solid workstation and gaming rig. If that was available when I was in school I know many people who would have been all in. Now, I wonder if culture has changed enough that cloud gaming and computing is easy enough once you sign up... Vigorously SMH at my dystopian ramblings.

 

[leman]

I'm wondering how many gamers would appreciate a dual use computer that is a solid workstation and gaming rig. If that was available when I was in school I know many people who would have been all in. Now, I wonder if culture has changed enough that cloud gaming and computing is easy enough once you sign up... Vigorously SMH at my dystopian ramblings.

To be honest, I don't really see the new MBP as a gaming platform. They are simply too expensive. Sure, there will be a good share of pros who need this kind of a beastly machine for work but who are also into gaming, but an average Joe who just wants a laptop to play games will probably get a gaming laptop for half the money (and the same FPS that a 14" could offer). I also don't see an average student who does paper writing and research splurge on a M1 Pro because they want to play some games.

Now, entry-level Apple Silicon is a different matter. They are relatively affordable (if you look at the premium ultra book segment), much faster than anything comparable you get for the same money, and their gaming performance potential is more than decent. The renaissance of gaming on Mac might be spurned on by the monstrous M1 Max, but its the M-series that will carry it forward.