Gaming on a MacBook? It’s definitely getting there – and developers are taking notice

It was a long time coming, but 2020's Cyberpunk 2077 was finally made available to Apple's Mac users in July this year.

The AAA game (an industry term for games made by big developers with high budgets) was known for its demanding requirements and impressive graphics. It was previously limited to desktop PC computers and laptops needing top-of-the-line hardware to be playable.

While Apple has been pushing gaming on its iPhones and iPad, its desktop and laptop lines of Macs and MacBooks were previously not given that much gaming attention. However, improvements in hardware performance have made them as good as, or even better than, your typical Intel or AMD-powered devices. 

In particular, the newer Apple Silicon series of M3 and M4 chips are very capable of running performance-intensive games while using much less power. This means you can play games without worrying that you have no battery power left while on the go.

"The MacBook is very thin and lightweight, and has a good battery. That means I can bring only my MacBook to where I'm going to work, and sometimes I can also open and play a game," said Vinh Tran, a YouTube content creator based in Vietnam.

Tran is a prolific gamer, and plays on both PC and MacBook. However, he's slowly making the switch to Mac because of the competitive performance, weight, and price.

NOT THERE YET?

Gaming on Mac had mostly been somewhat of a lesser priority for Apple, but things changed in 2023, when the company introduced software to help developers easily port their games over (although certain games with anti-cheat systems or digital rights management may not work). It also introduced a new dedicated app just for gaming called Apple Games.

New ones, such as Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Shadows, have also launched with Mac support, and developers are also porting their older titles, such as Control and the aforementioned Cyberpunk 2077. These titles were previously thought to require much beefier hardware, but developers have managed to get it to run even on older Apple Silicon-powered machines.

"With the transition to Apple Silicon on the Mac, Apple has been rapidly improving the power and capabilities of its hardware, and this includes great performance, amazing visuals, and long battery life, making Macs increasingly suitable for demanding AAA games," said Etienne Tardieu, Ubisoft’s senior director of strategic partnerships and business development.

Tardieu added that they've been been working on their in-house game engine, Ubisoft Anvil, to let them release native versions of their games on Mac devices, especially Assassin's Creed Shadows, from day one, alongside other platforms such as Windows and PlayStation. However, Tardieu did not say whether this would alo apply to future releases.

"There are many factors at play, so we can’t give a definitive answer. But our goal is always to make our worlds accessible to as many players as possible, on the devices they use, while balancing technical and development constraints."

Despite such developments, the pick up for Mac gaming continues to be slow. It's still the least popular platform on Steam, an online gaming store, with less than 3 per cent for the last few years compared to Windows. Even a recent July survey showed only 1.88 per cent of users were using Mac devices. 

OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK

But this hasn't really stopped developers from making their games compatible. Of the almost 132,000 games on Steam, 23,000 are playable on Mac, which is a lot. More importantly, developers are releasing big titles with support for the platform, and Apple's market share for personal computing devices shipments is currently fourth in the world at 9.1 per cent, according to a report by market intelligence firm International Data Corporation.

"I think there's huge potential in Mac support, and we've seen games sell in the general range of 3 to 5 per cent of their copies on Mac frequently, so it's a very solid amount of players," said Tim Bender, CEO of Hooded Horse.

Hooded Horse, a publisher of indie strategy games, does encourage its development studios to add support, although it leaves it up to developers to decide. 

"Honestly, we want to meet gamers where they are, so if we can support a user's system of preference, that's always a great thing. It feels like the number of players on Mac does sometimes surprise people."

A SINGLE MACHINE

For some gamers who use PC to game and MacBooks for work, the recent release of games on Mac is exciting because of the ability to game anywhere without having to carry around heavy gaming laptops. 

"I used to play games on a Windows laptop, but compared with the M4 MacBook Air, which can run Cyberpunk 2077, but with the same price, we can't get any Windows laptop to run at the same settings," said Tran.

He also pointed out that while the game is better optimised for Mac, there are games that are not yet available or optimised for the platform, and conceding that a Windows machine does provide more options.

While Tran's been very happy with the progress Apple is making to get games into Mac, he reckoned they could do more to improve the experience, such as Game Mode, which he feels doesn't really do anything to improve the performance of games when it's turned on.

Malaysian filmmaker Josh Woo, who has been gaming with a powerful PC all this time, is pretty excited now that his M4 Pro MacBook Pro can run games such as Baldur's Gate 3 on his MacBook as well. And since most games feature cloud saves, they automatically sync his progress to his MacBook or PC.

"Recently I just got Cyberpunk 2077, and surprisingly, it runs pretty decently on the Mac. And all my save files from the PC are cloud-based, so it just transferred over. I can play Cyberpunk on the go now, and I've been doing that a lot recently," said Woo.

WHAT HARDWARE DO I NEED AND WHAT CAN I PLAY?

The thing is, you don't really need the latest MacBooks or Macs if you want to game. For example, AAA titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 can run well even on the M1 MacBook Pro, but will require you to at least have 16GB RAM (Apple calls this unified memory).

The good news is that all new MacBooks and Macs now come with 16GB RAM as default, which means if you recently bought a new MacBook, even the M4 MacBook Air, you can play Cyberpunk 2077 easily. If not, you can always check out your laptop's specs first to see if it's compatible.

For Assassin's Creed Shadows, another AAA title, most newer MacBooks and Macs should be able to run the game smoothly. There are also a ton of other games to consider, from RPGs such as Baldur's Gate 3, the simulation game InZOI, or even action RPGs like Path Of Exile.

Alternatively, software such as CodeWeaver's CrossOver or Parallels, which allows Mac users to run Windows games somewhat natively on a Mac device, though there may be compatibility issues depending on the game. Most games do run pretty well though, and there's an online wiki that lets you check compatibility so you don't end up buying a game for Windows and realising it's not playable (yet).

If you're looking for less performance intensive games, other recommendations include games from indie developers such as Hades, Hades II, Balatro, and 9 Kings. These games will keep you occupied on the go, whether you're on a plane traveling for work, or in between lessons.