Is gaming officially dead on Macs?

[Yamcha]

Is it fair to say gaming is officially dead on Macs? Apple has transitioned to the new silicon on all their products. Does this mean there's no hope for Bootcamp? I really want to buy a MacBook, but not being able to play some of my favourite games from Blizzard is looking like a deal-breaker. Diablo 4 releases soon, but it requires DirectX 12. =/

Would Crossover for Mac work or am I out of luck?

 

[maflynn]

This is better discussed in the gaming forum, but no, gaming on the mac is not offically dead.

There are still plenty of games available on the mac. Gaming on ARM based macs is different and for now, not as good as intel macs, simply due to the fact that there is no bootcamp. That in of itself doesn't mean its dead, just different.

Crossover can be an option as well as parallels

 

[posguy99]

Does this mean there's no hope for Bootcamp?

You need Microsoft to mainstream Windows on ARM, and you need game developers to do ARM ports. This is hardly on Apple.

 

[mi7chy]

Get an Xbox One S for $240 (or preowned for about half) since it's one of the supported platforms along with PS5, PS4, Xbox One X and PC. Parallels and Crossover don't currently support DirectX 12.

 

[cateye]

Jack of all trades, master of none. Use the Mac for what it is good at, which does not include gaming in any serious measure.

I enjoy my Macs immensely. They run my business. But 100% of my gaming is on my Series X and Switch. Life's too short to make brand identity paramount. It leaves you waiting for the slim pickings of gaming's scraps that eventually trickle down to the Mac.

 

[MacDaddyPanda]

Was gaming even officially alive on Macs?

 

[orionquest]

Get a dedicate gaming PC, console etc and open your world to what is possible in gaming, none of which is on the Mac.

 

[Homy]

Not yet but they're going to make an official announcment at this year's WWDC about the death of Mac gaming. The reason is the absence of some Blizzard titles, the latest RE 4 and Boot Camp. They're also going to reveal that the promise of No Man's Sky, Grid Legends and The Medium was all a lie and apologize for keeping people waiting for an entire year. Furthurmore they're going to refund all buyers of RE Village due to its horrible performance on Macs. Better not to mention Mac and games in the same sentence ever again.

 

[Colstan]

A few months ago, MrMacRight released a video for his top 10 Mac games expected in 2023. (It's actually closer to 15 games.)

Everyone knows that the situation could be better for Mac gaming, nobody denies that. I do think that there are two positive takeaways from this video.

First, there was some speculation that the switch to Apple Silicon would kill Mac gaming, with the added complexity of switching to a new architecture. That does not appear to be the case.

Second, I've been watching MrMacRight's videos for many years now. Typically, in such a video, there was one "AAA" title, a couple of "AA" titles, and a shedload of simple indie games. This list is mostly "AAA" or "AA" titles, which is actually an improvement over what Mac gamers have had to chose from in the past, before Apple Silicon.

 

[Yamcha]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I might hang onto my Razer laptop a bit longer. I really love the new M2 MacBook Air, but the gaming thing is really a problem for me. I don't game often, but I don't really have the funds or space for a separate gaming machine. Maybe if Parallels or VMware get DirectX 12 support. Or if we see Bootcamp for Apple Silicon, then I'm switching.

 

[winxmac]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I might hang onto my Razer laptop a bit longer. I really love the new M2 MacBook Air, but the gaming thing is really a problem for me. I don't game often, but I don't really have the funds or space for a separate gaming machine. Maybe if Parallels or VMware get DirectX 12 support. Or if we see Bootcamp for Apple Silicon, then I'm switching.

Even if Bootcamp was available for Apple Silicon, will the Windows on ARM performance be as good as macOS on Apple Silicon or Windows on x86?

 

[Colstan]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I might hang onto my Razer laptop a bit longer. I really love the new M2 MacBook Air, but the gaming thing is really a problem for me. I don't game often, but I don't really have the funds or space for a separate gaming machine. Maybe if Parallels or VMware get DirectX 12 support. Or if we see Bootcamp for Apple Silicon, then I'm switching.

CodeWeavers claims to be working on DirectX 12 support, for CrossOver 23, at the earliest.

I would also suggest watching the Asahi Linux project for Apple Silicon. They've already got a number of OpenGL titles running, and at some point, hope to have Proton working. This video from Andrew Tsai provides some context:

Dual-booting Asahi Linux and macOS could be the solution that many Mac gamers have wanted. The idea is that you could play Metal 3 native Mac games on macOS, then boot into Asahi to play Proton compatible titles. That would cover a much wider spectrum of games, between the two. Of course, there's a lot of work to be done, but it's a promising project and they've made excellent progress, with some OpenGL games already working. (Yes, it can run Crysis.)

Recently, one of the Asahi developers hinted at something big that they are working on for gaming, but aren't ready to announce, just yet.

Even if Bootcamp was available for Apple Silicon, will the Windows on ARM performance be as good as macOS on Apple Silicon or Windows on x86?

Unless the game is compiled for Windows on Arm, which no games are, then it would have to be run through Microsoft's x86 translation/emulation layer, which is a less elegant equivalent to Apple's Rosetta 2. This is what happens when playing Windows games inside of a Parallels VM on Apple Silicon. Hence, performance suffers.

It doesn't really matter, because Apple has specifically stated that virtualization is the way forward for using Windows on the Mac, and that Boot Camp is a thing of the past. This is why I think Asahi Linux has far greater potential, utilizing Proton and whatever else the Asahi team has planned, because it will officially support dual-booting.

 

[curnalpanic]

Not at all! Starcraft 2 still runs on my Mac at least.

 

[Nugat Trailers]

No, it isn't. Apple's been rapidly expanding controller support starting with Catalina, and have been helping bring across a number of titles.

I think Apple should be more forthcoming with their plans, but they're showing more interest in Mac gaming then they have in a fair while.

 

[txa1265]

Was gaming even officially alive on Macs?

I feel like there have been moments ... like the 'Mac Enhanced' version of Dark Forces ... in 1995/6. And in the early 2000s the Mac versions of games like NWN, KotOR and Jedi Knight II outran their PC counterparts. And of course Divinity Original Sin 2 is wonderful on M1 Mac & iPad. But it has been a long long time since I've felt anything but disappointment at all of the missed opportunities.

 

[orionquest]

Not yet but they're going to make an official announcment at this year's WWDC about the death of Mac gaming. The reason is the absence of some Blizzard titles, the latest RE 4 and Boot Camp. They're also going to reveal that the promise of No Man's Sky, Grid Legends and The Medium was all a lie and apologize for keeping people waiting for an entire year. Furthurmore they're going to refund all buyers of RE Village due to its horrible performance on Macs. Better not to mention Mac and games in the same sentence ever again.

Might as well get it over with, Mac gaming might as well be dead. I know you are being sarcastic, but the reality, there are a serious lack of titles. Especially when a studio like Blizzard who use to be very friendly to the Mac doesn't bother anymore. Overwatch anyone? Now D4. Yeah mentioning a few titles which made it to the Mac doesn't mean squat to a player who wants to enjoy more then the odd title, none of which are mainstream or popular games.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

You can get a Steam Deck to use as a secondary companion device to your Apple Silicon Mac for gaming purposes like I do. For the price of CrossOver ($500) you can get the midrange 256gb Steam Deck

https://www.steamdeck.com/

 

[decafjava]

X-Plane is one of the few titles that has always been optimized to work on MacOS (including Apple silicon for the latest version X-Plane 11), Windows and Linux. Many don't see it as a game though.

 

[tornadowrangler]

Mac gaming died when Microsoft bought Bungie.

 

[jayryco]

Apple should seriously partner with Valve (it's a stretch, I know) to first get native steam support, along with valve games such as CSGO, soon to be CS2, and Dota 2 (since these are the most played on steam).
The partnership should also entail long term incentives for the developers to actually want to code and maintain support for native ARM games. The fact that side loading is a thing on iOS now and in the future, I see no reason why Apple can't work with Valve to help forefront the effort even in small ways.

I think Metal 3 is a good step forward but it's implementation has been... slow? if at all? I actually haven't seem any metal 3 games as of yet?

 

[diamond.g]

Apple should seriously partner with Valve (it's a stretch, I know) to first get native steam support, along with valve games such as CSGO, soon to be CS2, and Dota 2 (since these are the most played on steam).
The partnership should also entail long term incentives for the developers to actually want to code and maintain support for native ARM games. The fact that side loading is a thing on iOS now and in the future, I see no reason why Apple can't work with Valve to help forefront the effort even in small ways.

I think Metal 3 is a good step forward but it's implementation has been... slow? if at all? I actually haven't seem any metal 3 games as of yet?

Any game using MetalFX is Metal 3 (as far as I am aware Apple did not backport that capability into Metal 2).

 

[jayryco]

Apple should seriously partner with Valve (it's a stretch, I know) to first get native steam support, along with valve games such as CSGO, soon to be CS2, and Dota 2 (since these are the most played on steam).
The partnership should also entail long term incentives for the developers to actually want to code and maintain support for native ARM games. The fact that side loading is a thing on iOS now and in the future, I see no reason why Apple can't work with Valve to help forefront the effort even in small ways.

I think Metal 3 is a good step forward but it's implementation has been... slow? if at all? I actually haven't seem any metal 3 games as of yet?

Another idea is to stop all their fighting with Epic, and actually partner to get full UE5 support on ARM which would be HUGE.

Apple are really underestimating the potential that gamers have as customers to their business. If gaming is good on Macs then more gamers would be willing to switch over increasing hardware sales (thus more subscription profits too) in a market they have little presence in.
Casual gaming on their devices make huge amounts of money, why don't they see how much they could make if they catered to dedicated gamers by partnering with important gaming companies to get support.
BIG win - win for everyone involved.

 

[txa1265]

Another idea is to stop all their fighting with Epic

Let's be very clear - EPIC started the fights because of falling Fortnight revenue as a way to lawsuit their way to profit and market share.

 

[Homy]

Another company unaware of the imminent death of Mac gaming dropped this news today.

"SnowRunner, the blockbuster open-world off-roading game from Saber Interactive, is revving up to reach new heights with the game’s debut on the Mac App Store, Mac via Steam, and the Epic Games Store later this year. It features MetalFX Upscaling for accelerated performance and high-quality visuals, along with full crossplay with consoles and PC plus controller support. Players can jump into the driver’s seat of some of the world’s powerful vehicles and prepare to conquer extreme environments with the most advanced terrain simulation experience.

SnowRunner is coming to the Apple silicon Mac lineup, and will be available for $29.99 on the Mac App Store, Mac via Steam, and the Epic Games Store. All previously released DLC, as well as the Premium Edition and Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 Passes, will be available for purchase separately."

 

[diamond.g]

steamdb seems to think they sold around 3 million units, and they keep coming out with more content, which is nice

Another comapny unaware of the imminent death of Mac gaming dropped this news today.

"SnowRunner, the blockbuster open-world off-roading game from Saber Interactive, is revving up to reach new heights with the game’s debut on the Mac App Store, Mac via Steam, and the Epic Games Store later this year. It features MetalFX Upscaling for accelerated performance and high-quality visuals, along with full crossplay with consoles and PC plus controller support. Players can jump into the driver’s seat of some of the world’s powerful vehicles and prepare to conquer extreme environments with the most advanced terrain simulation experience.

SnowRunner is coming to the Apple silicon Mac lineup, and will be available for $29.99 on the Mac App Store, Mac via Steam, and the Epic Games Store. All previously released DLC, as well as the Premium Edition and Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 Passes, will be available for purchase separately."