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Apple Discusses Push Towards High-End Mac Gaming in New Interview
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One of the biggest reasons that gaming has improved on the Mac in recent years is the switch from Intel processors to Apple silicon......
Was there any reason for Macs not to perform well before? Intel managed it.
I was all for supporting Mac gaming before but not now. They had enough chances and screwed their faithful at every turn. I'll stick to My Mac Pro in Windows or buy a PlayStation if I take up gaming more than I do now.
Was there any reason for Macs not to perform well before? Intel managed it.
I was all for supporting Mac gaming before but not now. They had enough chances and screwed their faithful at every turn. I'll stick to My Mac Pro in Windows or buy a PlayStation if I take up gaming more than I do now.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Talk like this is CHEAP.
AAA gaming on Mac requires competitive subsidies paid to major game developers to motivate porting big games to this "oddball" platform (not an easy job now that Mac has abandoned Intel). Apple also needs to buy some major developers for exclusives. Both are what Sony and Microsoft do to fuel their gaming platforms. When it comes to spending real money on this, you get ¢ri¢kets from Apple.
When there is a story about Apple setting aside several BILLION dollars for these kinds of gaming investments like they did to try to become a Netflix junior-like boutique, take this kind of rumor seriously. Until Apple "shows developers the money," expect only an occasional big game made out of love of the platform, business foolishness and/or some kind of test to see if developing big games for Silicon can yield enough profit now.
AND, Apple needs to get OUT of the business of suing a major game developer towards oblivion. Strike a good compromise and settle all such matters ASAP. Be a haven for game developers... a good partner... that seems to care about the developer more than themselves. Why bother trying to develop major games for a big legal bully who has the resources to fight you to death? Better to focus on more welcoming channels that provide lucrative opportunity... who may not demand 30% right off the top of all transactions, etc.
I'm a mostly Apple guy but it's been obvious for a few decades that gaming interests need a good PC or console. Apple will talk this up every few years but little comes of it until Apple plays ball with the majors WITH (BIG) DOLLARS and repositions itself as the gaming developers best friend instead of a potential wolf in sheep clothing.
AAA gaming on Mac requires competitive subsidies paid to major game developers to motivate porting big games to this "oddball" platform (not an easy job now that Mac has abandoned Intel). Apple also needs to buy some major developers for exclusives. Both are what Sony and Microsoft do to fuel their gaming platforms. When it comes to spending real money on this, you get ¢ri¢kets from Apple.
When there is a story about Apple setting aside several BILLION dollars for these kinds of gaming investments like they did to try to become a Netflix junior-like boutique, take this kind of rumor seriously. Until Apple "shows developers the money," expect only an occasional big game made out of love of the platform, business foolishness and/or some kind of test to see if developing big games for Silicon can yield enough profit now.
AND, Apple needs to get OUT of the business of suing a major game developer towards oblivion. Strike a good compromise and settle all such matters ASAP. Be a haven for game developers... a good partner... that seems to care about the developer more than themselves. Why bother trying to develop major games for a big legal bully who has the resources to fight you to death? Better to focus on more welcoming channels that provide lucrative opportunity... who may not demand 30% right off the top of all transactions, etc.
I'm a mostly Apple guy but it's been obvious for a few decades that gaming interests need a good PC or console. Apple will talk this up every few years but little comes of it until Apple plays ball with the majors WITH (BIG) DOLLARS and repositions itself as the gaming developers best friend instead of a potential wolf in sheep clothing.
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No it is not lmao. Building a PC is literally just adult Lego. All you're doing is inserting pieces into predesignated slots. You can build a very nice midrange system for under $1000, and using sources like PC Part Picker you can find what works and what doesn't, as well as finding where the best prices are. https://pcpartpicker.com/
So long as you don't do what the Verge did, you'll be fine. You have to actually try to screw up building a PC nowadays.
If Henry Cavill can do it, you can too.
It's not physically complicated, but support is an issue if the that's important to you, and the hardware isn't the complicated part; installing the OS, finding drivers, finding out why said driver is conflicting with something else, why is there an exclamation point in device manager and I can't figure out what it is, etc.. It can be difficult to diagnose issues or incompatibilities without experience
My cousin, the only PC gamer I know, opted to buy a pre-built system recently because he wanted to spend zero minutes building or supporting his system. He's been building his computers for 20 years. Plug-in and go.
I used to build all my computers too, since the mid 90s, then one day I just grew tired of it and don't bother now, plus at this point, I only use laptops.
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512GB storage is fine, 16GB is not in my opinion as RAM is used both by CPU and GPU:
I'd go for 18GB as a minimum, as in MBP 14" M3 Pro not binned, 2k USD price tag as of now.
A similarly specced Mac Mini M3 Pro would be great if properly priced.
I think this is exactly it - Apple need to show that they're serious about improving the state of affairs and put some money into AAA games.
It's nice to have certain high profile games coming out on macOS these days, but the percentage of gamers playing on macOS is ridiculously small. And until that changes, developers by and large won't deem macOS versions worth their time and effort.
The Title of the article is "Apple pushes toward High End Mac Gaming"
Based on my experience with hardcore gamers, the Mac would never really be a platform of choice. This I know are as much into building and upgrading their game box as playing games. The Mac will never be a DIY platform. The Mac, however, could be a gaming platform for people who want to play an occasional game and not worry about specs, frame rates, etc.
Having built a number of machines, yea, it's not that hard if you have the right tools and some mechanical ability and understanding things like grounding; or what to do if things don't work out of the box. Most people, however, are not and building a PC seems overwhelming, or they just want a box that works after plugging it into the wall outlet.
Another issue is trying to decide what exactly is a good combo if you aren't familiar with what's out there and then getting the drivers and settings right to get the best performance.
Intel Macs could easily run games. Intel Macs were PCs in pretty cases. Gaming didn’t take off because Apple didn’t want to support OpenGL, CL, Vulcan or even provide support for DirectX.
Instead of switching to arm, Apple could have had an agreement with AMD and had Apple custom designed APUs, like Sony and Microsoft do. The switch to AS was and always has been about Apple controlling the hardware stack and increasing profit per machine.
Instead of switching to arm, Apple could have had an agreement with AMD and had Apple custom designed APUs, like Sony and Microsoft do. The switch to AS was and always has been about Apple controlling the hardware stack and increasing profit per machine.
I figure Macs will take over the gaming world on about the same day that Linux takes over the desktop.
Top Gaming Companies by Revenue
Tencent, the largest Chinese giant, remains at the top with more than $7.5 billion in revenues. Sony is in second place with $4.3 billion. Apple is third with $3.6 billion, followed closely by Microsoft ($3.1 billion). Rounding out the top five is another Chinese company - NetEase, with $2.7 billion.
Nintendo is one of the few AAA developers who can still make great games on poverty specs. There’s a been a few recent AAA 3rd party ports to the switch, but the quality is horrible compared to other platforms.
Valheim is Steam’s hottest new PC game, and it’s now sold 5 million copies
Even PUBG didn’t have a trajectory quite like this
www.theverge.com
Halo Master Chief Collection's initial sales on PC were so big Steam actually crashed, and it made Microsoft completely change their strategy to do day in date PC releases outside of the Microsoft store because of how big it was and even bringing their Xbox Game Pass service to PC. PC game sales of Xbox's titles are the main reason Xbox hasn't gone the way of SEGA yet.
In under a year, Persona 4 Golden's experimental PC port outsold the original Vita version, and prompted Atlus to make the Persona series no longer PlayStation exclusive.
The Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise was previously PlayStation exclusive and was niche outside of Japan, but an experimental PC release of Yakuza 0 caused the franchise to explode in popularity, and RGG Studio credits the PC release for that.
I can keep going and provide even more examples but I think I made my point. PC gaming is massive, so massive that Xbox and PlayStation bring their coveted 1st party exclusives to it now. One of the biggest games of the year Baldur's Gate 3 was on early access on PC and Mac for years long before it got console releases. And there's other smaller examples I can draw up like Lethal Company outselling Call of Duty Modern Warfare III (2023) on Steam despite being a small indie game exclusive to PC in early access that came out of nowhere.
So to say the "hardcore gamers" and PC gaming is niche is laughable. Mac gaming is niche. PC gaming is not.
Valheim is Steam’s hottest new PC game, and it’s now sold 5 million copies
Even PUBG didn’t have a trajectory quite like this
Halo Master Chief Collection's initial sales on PC were so big Steam actually crashed, and it made Microsoft completely change their strategy to do day in date PC releases outside of the Microsoft store because of how big it was. PC game sales of Xbox's titles are the main reason Xbox hasn't gone the way of SEGA yet.
In under a year, Persona 4 Golden's experimental PC port outsold the original Vita version, and prompted Atlus to make the Persona series no longer PlayStation exclusive.
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The Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise was previously PlayStation exclusive and was niche outside of Japan, but an experimental PC release of Yakuza 0 caused the franchise to explode in popularity, and RGG Studio credits the PC release for that.
I can keep going and provide even more examples but I think I made my point. PC gaming is massive, so massive that Xbox and PlayStation bring their coveted 1st party exclusives to it now. One of the biggest games of the year Baldur's Gate 3 was on early access on PC and Mac for years long before it got console releases. And there's other smaller examples I can draw up like Lethal Company outselling Call of Duty Modern Warfare III (2023) on Steam despite being a small indie game that came out of nowhere.
So to say the "hardcore gamers" and PC gaming is niche is laughable. Mac gaming is niche. PC gaming is not.
All of those compared to mobile gaming, via revenue, are niche.
I know I'm yelling into a void, and I play zero computer/console/mobile games (I prefer board games and cards), but Apple seriously just needs to not worry about this. They lost this battle 30 years ago.
Maybe it's the people I associate with, but I only know one PC gamer, but I know lots of people with a Switch or PS5..I've never seen an Xbox newer than a 360.
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Coincidentally I have tried all week to get some games running on the M1 Max. It does not work. Mac is not a gaming platform, for PC games I will hook up my old Intel Mac in bootcamp to an egpu.
As it is with consoles, it's not so much the hardware but software/game support. I would hate to see the price of an Apple gaming rig based on the costs of a current Mac. And would a gaming Mac have an upgrade path or is everything soldered onto the motherboard? If i'm gaming, i'm going to spend my money on a Windows based PC. It still has the best support and games will be cheaper vs the Mac version because it has the biggest audience.
And how many permutations do Windows PCs have, and what percentage share of AAA does Windows have? Yes, it's complex, but it's obviously doable.
Besides, how many benchmarks have we seen where Nvidia's GPUs have blown Apple's GPUs out of the water? I'd love to at least see an option for a hybrid/multi-tiered GPU solution. Keep Apple's builtin GPU, but allow dedicated GPUs as well.
I agree. Sure, there are benefits with everything integrated and soldered down like smaller and lighter devices. Yet, in my experience in IT, repairing/replacing old components is difficult if not impossible.
The game from 5 years ago? I'm in to FPS & strategy games. The best apple does for me right now is Call of Duty mobile, its actually not that bad with a controller and headset/mic.
Ah yes mobile gaming, AKA scam central and short distraction experiences designed to make you spend as much on IAP as possible.
Don't make me post how many copies Grand Theft Auto 5 sold and how much money Rockstar makes on Shark Card sales each year.
And that defeatist mindset is why no one takes Mac Gaming seriously, writing it off as "$2000 to play crappy mobile games."
We already have the capabilities to make Mac gaming actually viable. We have the hardware, now we just need the software. Making D3DMetal open source would make leaps in making that happen
So you admit you're out of touch. Got it.
Maybe you should start playing some non-mobile games and see what you're missing. You don't have to be afraid of greatness. I can give you recommendations
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Mobile "Gaming" Revenue might be in the billions, but the majority of that is microtransaction whales buying virtual currency, it's not people buying games.
PC/Console gaming is a 95+ billion dollar a year industry
Buy some high end gaming companies, put a M3 in an Apple TV so it can play games, etc. Just a few games won't make much of a difference, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. For me the big thing will be not having to spend an arm and a leg for a discrete GPU where prices have skyrocketed. If anything Apple has a really good opening in between Nvidia/AMD's greed.
Vulkan isn’t massively supported by games anyway. It won’t be a magical fix you all expect.