Apple Explains How Game Mode Works in macOS Sonoma

[CarAnalogy]

Seriously you suggest "the more of an indictment it is that the operating system is running too high at what should be idle. It’s not like it makes the computer any faster" ? That is nuts. M Macs have proven to be quite efficient, and many (perhaps most) folks like me buy a max box to get max performance.

We want to be able to gain the creative/productivity edge that reduced latency when switching among apps (especially when using multiple displays) provides. And M-series MBPs have excellent battery life already. MBP users' primary goal is not to lower the OS performance at idle.

Maybe poorly phrased. My point is ideally this would be unnecessary because the rest of the system would not be noticeably slowing the game down. If you see a vast improvement in game mode you have to ask yourself what is using so much resources while you’re trying to game. It doesn’t make the computer faster, just focuses its resources on what you want to do. But it’s kind of already supposed to do that.

Edit: OK having now tried it, nevermind. I don't think I was getting my point across well but it's a nice feature to have.

 

[NEPOBABY]

Productivity apps should also have a windowless fullscreen mode that is optimized like Game Mode is.

Not the current version of full screen mode. That's not a true full screen. It just hides window widgets.

 

[achandlerwhite]

Productivity apps should also have a windowless fullscreen mode that is optimized like Game Mode is.

Not the current version of full screen mode. That's not a true full screen. It just hides window widgets.

Most regular productivity apps would not benefit most likely. They spend 99% of their time doing nothing waiting for mouse input. In contrast a game is recalculating all graphics, logic, and physics repeatedly 99% of the time.

 

[Naraxus]

Signs that Apple is making efforts to expanding beyond the casual gaming space.

By Dec 2028 the Vision Pro, iPhone, iPad and Mac combined will likely have 20% of the non-casual gaming market.

Not even CLOSE to accurate.

 

[sack_peak]

Not even CLOSE to accurate.

Lets talk again Dec 2028

 

[Naraxus]

Lets talk again Dec 2028

Lol. ok. I've been hearing this Mac gaming spiel for decades. Apple isn't going to take anywhere close to 20% for multiple reasons.

 

[nathansz]

Lol. ok. I've been hearing this Mac gaming spiel for decades. Apple isn't going to take anywhere close to 20% for multiple reasons.

Where can I put some money down on this

 

[JPark]

whats would be the point of this? the cloud game are run server-side, not on your device.

Bluetooth latency

 

[bousozoku]

I thought it would switch automatically.
Does that mean it's technically not possible?
Pathetic.

They'd have to keep a database of games and/or provide a way to add a game you have to the database. That could happen in the future, but only if they want to embrace gaming.

 

[mjoecups]

Yeah Im kinda hoping I can 'brute force' Cubase into it too. Didn't even think about it last night after I updated and was testing out the DAW.. I was just happy everything works the same as it did in Ventura/Monterey so far..

If you are a production pro using bluetooth headset, you should find a new career.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Hard to predict RAM needs 2-5 years into the future.

Not that hard. Whatever you need now plus more

This. And I will get more specific:

1) Historically RAM needs more than double over the life cycle of a box.

2) Look to Apple for guidance. E.g. 6 years ago 2017 Apple offered max 16 GB in a MBP and 2023 they raised that 6x to 96 GB.

3) The RAM question was specifically asked regarding "...all pro apps like Photoshop, Lightroom, Final Cut, Premiere, etc." Those apps already improve when more RAM is available. IMO anyone intending work in that direction should max out on RAM; ~$400 to add 32 GB more RAM is very cost effective. I bought 96 GB in my MBP.

4) Read up on Apple's Unified Memory Architecture ("UMA"), which to me suggests that RAM will be increasingly important (which has always been the case anyway).

5) Apple's M-series approach of integrated GPU cores creates a graphics weak point (no independent GPU). My guess is that UMA may be used to help resolve that weakness, and that folks suggesting things like games want to see 16-32 GB are probably underestimating what we will be seeing in 2026+.

 

[nathansz]

Historically RAM needs more than double over the life cycle of a box.

I built my current "Mac" in 2019 with 32 GB RAM

at this point it looks like I will add another 32 and upgrade my gpu and ride it out another couple year instead of moving to apple silicon

not entirely apropos to your comment, but does speak to the state of gaming in macOS

I only really play a few games, one of them has a new version coming that will not run on macOS. since I already have a box that can boot windows it seems insane for me to make the jump to apple silicon now so I'll beef this one up to get a few more years out of it and hope eventually we'll be able to run any os on any box again in a few years (it was a great 20ish years while it lasted!)

or I'll be able to play my couple/few games in macOS

I don't care which

 

[svish]

Good to know and great to see that more games are coming to Mac

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

Whereby “explains how it works” means “explains how to enable it” while explaining **** all about what it actually does on a technical level

 

[nathansz]

Good to know and great to see that more games are coming to Mac

Doubtful

So far in reality it seems that the transition to apple silicon and no real gpu support means less games coming to macOS

I don’t play many games, but one of few I do has a new version coming next month and they have have decided to go windows only even though the current version runs on Mac

So instead of buying a new Mac I’m buying a new gpu for my hackintosh



The one other game I spend time playing barely runs on macOS even though it’s supposed to. It crashes macOS about 1 out of 2 times starting it, so I boot windows to play that now too

 

[Monotremata]

If you are a production pro using bluetooth headset, you should find a new career.

Uh ok, not sure that even remotely has anything to do with anything, but thanks for the tip.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

• in-app purchases: "I want the entire game unlocked for a single price"
• subscription model: "I will never buy anything that costs a subscription*"
• advertising model: "I hate all advertising in games- just give me the game"

While there may be a lot of people that will post comments like this online, looking at the billions of dollars Apple’s raking in (almost $100 billion in 2022!!) coming from in-app purchases and/or subscriptions, the problem is not that money can’t be made from Apple device owners. They’ll spend money if they think it’s worth it. The problem is whether or not they have the developer talent to deliver something to those millions of folks spending billions a year.

Many of the big companies had been focusing on PC’s for so long, they didn’t have any in-house iOS developer talent. BUT, they do now thanks to the deals cut over the last couple years.

 

[diamond.g]

While there may be a lot of people that will post comments like this online, looking at the billions of dollars Apple’s raking in (almost $100 billion in 2022!!) coming from in-app purchases and/or subscriptions, the problem is not that money can’t be made from Apple device owners. They’ll spend money if they think it’s worth it. The problem is whether or not they have the developer talent to deliver something to those millions of folks spending billions a year.

Many of the big companies had been focusing on PC’s for so long, they didn’t have any in-house iOS developer talent. BUT, they do now thanks to the deals cut over the last couple years.

iOS App store revenue has been crushing it for years. Not sure about the MAS though. Freemium games are where it is at and that will force devs to break up their games in a way to maximize IAP's. "Traditional" games are not built that way (though it is changing, much to folks dismay).

 

[Unregistered 4U]

iOS App store revenue has been crushing it for years. Not sure about the MAS though. Freemium games are where it is at and that will force devs to break up their games in a way to maximize IAP's. "Traditional" games are not built that way (though it is changing, much to folks dismay).

MAS has absolutely NOT been crushing it. I’d guess because the market is significantly smaller, even to the point where some of the biggest games out on iOS and iPadOS (Genshin Impact, Minecraft ‘bedrock edition’) COULD have macOS versions without TOO much work, but even that much work is not worth the money they feel they’d make from the platform.

And these days, traditional games are different from freemium only in that you pay more to start off (and still have loot boxes, keys, cosmetics, etc.) In my mind, the best case for macOS games is if iOS takes off and Apple makes it VERY easy to turn that into a macOS game. No one looking for a significant ROI is developing a macOS only game, I don’t think.

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

Question for anyone who has tried this, does the Mac still run hot ? I haven’t been able to enjoy gaming on Mac so much mainly because it runs very hot in a few minutes of playing a game, even with the games that aren’t very GPU-intensive 🥲
Or does that depend more on the chip itself (CPU/GPU cores) ? Because my MacBook has the base M2 chip..

 

[diamond.g]

Question for anyone who has tried this, does the Mac still run hot ? I haven’t been able to enjoy gaming on Mac so much mainly because it runs very hot in a few minutes of playing a game, even with the games that aren’t very GPU-intensive 🥲
Or does that depend more on the chip itself (CPU/GPU cores) ? Because my MacBook has the base M2 chip..

As far as I know it doesn’t make a Mac run any cooler.

 

[nathansz]

Question for anyone who has tried this, does the Mac still run hot ? I haven’t been able to enjoy gaming on Mac so much mainly because it runs very hot in a few minutes of playing a game, even with the games that aren’t very GPU-intensive 🥲
Or does that depend more on the chip itself (CPU/GPU cores) ? Because my MacBook has the base M2 chip..

The only way it could make or run cooler would be by decreasing performance which would be pretty silly

 

[George Dawes]

Just get a ps5 , gaming on the Mac has always been pretty awful

 

[Davnak]

Just tested this with Eve Online on my MBA
Mid 90s frame rate with it running in a window.
110 full screen.

That's quite an increase.

How did you get game mode to enable on Eve Online. I’ve tried fullscreen, fixed screen, and windowed mode (along with hitting the green fullscreen button while in windowed mode) on my M1 Mac Mini without any success.

 

[Feek]

How did you get game mode to enable on Eve Online. I’ve tried fullscreen, fixed screen, and windowed mode (along with hitting the green fullscreen button while in windowed mode) on my M1 Mac Mini without any success.

You just go fullscreen, it enables automatically.