Macs used to have no end of gaming options, until about the turn of the century. Since then, gaming on a Mac has been a bit of a joke at Apple’s expense. However, in recent years, things have taken a turn for the better, with Apple making many moves that should result in more games coming to its platform,

However, I can’t just praise all the things Apple is doing right when it comes to gaming these days. Native Mac games are still relatively scarce compared to Windows and certainly consoles, and many of the reasons why there’s a lack of games are self-inflicted by Apple’s lack of foresight.

Where’s the Tech?

Developing games is expensive, time-consuming, and you need every win you can get to cut costs or make things easier and faster. This is why APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) come into play. Microsoft’s DirectX, for example, is an API that makes it easy for game developers and hardware developers to ensure they are all on the same page.

OpenGL was an extremely popular graphics API which, unlike DirectX, isn’t exclusive to Windows (and Xbox, I guess), which means that you can create a game for OpenGL once, and then have a (relatively) easy time porting that game to other platforms. However, Apple opted to drop support for OpenGL in favor of their own in-house API called Metal. Now, Metal is pretty awesome, and it makes it easier for developers to get the most out of a Mac when porting their games, but it does mean making a special Mac version that requires extra work. OpenGL games will still work, but it’s deprecated, so there’s no future support or development from Apple’s side.

But isn’t Metal just like DirectX then? The big difference here is that, unlike Microsoft, Apple is in full control of the graphics hardware and drivers, so you can still use OpenGL on Windows as long as the GPU manufacturers like NVIDIA and AMD support it in their drivers. OK, so Apple’s decision to drop OpenGL support can be seen from the perspective that few if any new games are made for OpenGL. However, Apple also doesn’t support Vulkan, the modern cross-platform successor to OpenGL.

Instead, developers must use MoltenVK, a translation layer between Vulkan and Metal. While MoltenVK is officially supported by the Khronos Group and performs well in many cases, it still adds an additional layer of abstraction that developers might rather avoid. Direct Vulkan support would simplify porting efforts and improve performance.

Annoyed Developers Won’t Make Games for Your Platform

In the past few years, Apple has tried to make macOS a friendlier place for game developers, but building trust and enthusiasm from developers is hard to do and very easy to lose.

Apple Tends to Make Unilateral Decisions That Break Games

Apple is known for making sweeping decisions and deprecating things that require developers to put more time and money into games that shipped long ago just to keep them functional. The OpenGL decision is one example, but Apple’s abandonment of 32-bit software support is perhaps the most notorious. My Steam library is littered with great games that have macOS versions which won’t work because they don’t have 64-bit versions. I’d love to play Homeworld Remastered Collection on my MacBook, but it doesn’t have a 64-bit version and likely never will.

Some developers, such as CD Project RED, have found the time to update games like the original The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings to work on modern Macs, but this is a large developer with plenty of resources. In particular, why would a developer want to make a game for macOS when a future decision by Apple or macOS update will just break support for it? My Windows system has no issue playing games from more than 20 years ago, but I can’t say the same about my Mac!

The App Store Isn’t the Friendliest Place

The Mac App Store is its own can of worms, with strict rules and requirements that gatekeep many developers from wanting to put their games there. To be honest, this isn’t as big a deal as it used to be, since the macOS versions of Steam, Epic Games Store, GoG, and even the Battle.net app all offer Mac games without the Apple walled garden issues. However, the Mac App Store is still a potentially important place where mainstream Mac users can be exposed to games without having to install a third-party marketplace.

Optimizing for Mac Hardware Has Its Challenges

Apple’s been killing it with hardware when it comes to Apple Silicon. Even the M1 series of chips had capable GPUs that could do a good job of playing console-grade titles. However, that doesn’t mean developers can just fire-and-forget their code. These games need to be optimized for Apple’s hardware, which is laser-focused on power efficiency just as much (if not more) than performance. It’s why I can play a game like Baldur’s Gate 3 at very high settings on my M4 Pro MacBook without the banshee fan wail that my Windows gaming laptop produces running the same title at the same settings. Also, Apple GPUs work a little differently under the hood than dedicated GPUs in graphics cards.

Apple’s Attitude Toward Gaming Is Inconsistent

Apple makes a lot of money from video games, but the vast bulk of that cash mountain comes from mobile games and so it makes sense that that’s where all the developer attention is. Things are a little better these days in the sense that any game you develop for iPhone or iPad will run natively on an Apple Silicon Mac, and so there’s not that much extra work to create a macOS version, but I suspect even Apple doesn’t see Mac gaming as a priority.

They’ve come up with the Game Porting Toolkit, and have invested time and money to woo some developers to create Mac versions of games like Resident Evil 8 and Death Stranding, but it feels like this enthusiasm waxes and wanes. For all I know, there’s lots going on behind the scenes, but there’s no consistent public communication on this.

What Needs to Change

I love Macs and I love Mac hardware, so I’d love for my Mac to be a truly viable gaming alternative to a Windows PC, but to make that a reality, Apple’s going to have to make a few more changes on top of the developer-positive moves it’s already made.

I think doing away with MoltenVK and offering native Vulkan support would be a huge incentive for developers to bring their games over to Mac, but if you’re going to go with compatibility layers Apple, why not go all the way and throw your official support behind projects like CrossOver and Whiskey? Valve has shown you the way with SteamOS, where it and developers actively work to help make Windows games run on Linux, so why not put time and effort into this relatively easy win? Your game porting toolkit already does most of this, it just needs to be packaged and polished into something more user-friendly, rather than just a developer tool.

The Mac App Store also needs to take serious lessons from Steam and other successful digital storefronts when it comes to gaming features and pricing, as well as sales. Another thing I’d like to see is something like Microsoft’s “play anywhere” feature, because buying a game at full price for my iPad, and then having to buy it at full price again on my Mac isn’t something I want to do. Apart from usually being cheaper, one of the reasons I prefer to buy my Mac games on Steam, is that I also get the Windows version for when I’m playing at my desk.

I still believe Apple is in a position to make the Mac a major player in the games industry of the future, but it still has a lot of work ahead of it to make it a reality. Whether Apple thinks it can find the time and resources in its trillion-dollar business to take gaming seriously on its Macs is another story entirely.