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Gaming on M1 will be BETTER than PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch

I have an M1 MacBook with 16GB of ram. I’ve been gaming with it with CrossOver. It can run up to games like Star Wars Fallen Order where its limits start to manifest.

I am thinking to get a used PS4 PRO, jailbreak it, install Linux and Steam. I am not sure if it makes sense at all. I read it that PS4 PRO has about double TFLOPS than M1 has but its vram is only 8GB.

Theoretically would there be a chance for my idea to work, to have a noticeably better gaming performance than what I have now?
 
I wonder if Steam's work into ARM for the upcoming Steam Frame and (likely) the next Steam Deck will make their way over to Apple and make gaming on Apple Silicon powered Macs better? Developers will already be making their games work for ARM for the Steam Frame and Steam Deck 2 so they should also work for Macs as well. In my dreams I would love to see a partnership between Apple and Valve where the next Steam Deck is powered by the M6 or something. Apple has thin, low-wattage devices that get great battery life down. Steam wants better battery life at lower wattages for its next Steam Deck. It's either Apple or Snapdragon and while Steam is using Snapdragon for the Frame, Apple Silicon is miles better if optimized for gaming (which it hasn't been but Valve could easily make it happen).
 
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HarryWarden said:
I wonder if Steam's work into ARM for the upcoming Steam Frame and (likely) the next Steam Deck will make their way over to Apple and make gaming on Apple Silicon powered Macs better? Developers will already be making their games work for ARM for the Steam Frame and Steam Deck 2 so they should also work for Macs as well. In my dreams I would love to see a partnership between Apple and Valve where the next Steam Deck is powered by the M6 or something. Apple has thin, low-wattage devices that get great battery life down. Steam wants better battery life at lower wattages for its next Steam Deck. It's either Apple or Snapdragon and while Steam is using Snapdragon for the Frame, Apple Silicon is miles better if optimized for gaming (which it hasn't been but Valve could easily make it happen).
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ARM is not an issue for porting games to macOS (Rosetta works exceptionally well), graphics API mismatches and OS interface differences are. Apple attempted to address it with Metal 4, which is much closely aligned with DX12. We are still yet to see if this improves things.
 
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No one is complaining about apple hardware, its the software. All you have are indie dev games and "mobile" games. No AAA game devs want to risk making stuff for mac OS. Even the under powered Switch 1 has Skyrim and Witcher 3.
 
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macfacts said:
No one is complaining about apple hardware, its the software. All you have are indie dev games and "mobile" games. No AAA game devs want to risk making stuff for mac OS. Even the under powered Switch 1 has Skyrim and Witcher 3.
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That’s why iPad needs to be the focus
 
leman said:
ARM is not an issue for porting games to macOS (Rosetta works exceptionally well), graphics API mismatches and OS interface differences are. Apple attempted to address it with Metal 4, which is much closely aligned with DX12. We are still yet to see if this improves things.
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Developers have not adopted yet
 
Homy said:
That's literally and factually wrong, so no "Mac facts" there (again).
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Ummm, yeah, the majority, if not most AAA developers/publishers don't for the mac. Those that may have a game or two on the mac, may not have their entire game catalog available for macos.
 
cbum said:
Sure, but that's not what he said.
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Ok From

‘no aaa game devs want to take a chance’
to
‘one or two aaa game devs have taken a chance and it didn’t really pan out or move the needle’

What a W!
 
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macfacts said:
go on, list them.
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Are you sure you really want to do this? Because that’s a very easy task. No list is even needed. I just need to mention one single game/developer to refute your claim that ”NO AAA game devs want to risk making stuff for mac OS”. It doesn’t even have to be a successful example, just someone who’s been willing to take the risk according to your own claim. So tell me, does CDPR and Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition with Phantom Liberty ring a bell?

You only had to replace one single word to make a reasonable point but you just had to say ”NO devs” instead of few. Even ”very few” had saved your credibility but I guess that wasn’t enough either.

If someone is so clueless about Mac gaming and particularly AAA games on Mac it would be best and only wise to not make such confident claims at all. It hurts your credibility even more when you double down and say ”go on, list them” instead of doing some research first. Can’t really tell if you’re joking or trolling. Are you really telling us that you possess so much knowledge about Mac gaming that you confidently can claim no devs would risk making AAA Mac games but at the same time are totally unaware of released or announced AAA Mac games during the past year at least?

Let me know if you still after this post can’t find another AAA game on Mac. At the same time why would anyone bother to spoon-feed someone who doesn’t even bother to do a simple google search for such a simple and obvious question?

The idea that new AAA games guarantee success and happy gaming is also far from truth many times. Look at all those AAA games that failed miserably and those AA or indie games that have had AAA quality, huge success or both.
 
erihp said:
factually, maybe. sure theres a few AAA titles
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A more reasonable comment.

erihp said:
but nowhere near the number of games available on any other playform. even linux.
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An off-topic comment. Neither I or the person I replied to was discussing this. The claim was ”NO AAA game devs want to risk making stuff for mac OS”.

maflynn said:
Ummm, yeah, the majority, if not most AAA developers/publishers don't for the mac. Those that may have a game or two on the mac, may not have their entire game catalog available for macos.
Click to expand...

Ummm, no, just no. Please read the comments again. Did I or the person I replied to discuss "the majority or most AAA developers/publishers? No. Did I or the person I replied to discuss "their entire game catalog not available for macos"? No. The claim was ”NO AAA game devs want to risk making stuff for mac OS” and we all know (obviously not all) that's not the case.
 
Homy said:
A more reasonable comment.



An off-topic comment. Neither I or the person I replied to was discussing this. The claim was ”NO AAA game devs want to risk making stuff for mac OS”.



Ummm, no, just no. Please read the comments again. Did I or the person I replied to discuss "the majority or most AAA developers/publishers? No. Did I or the person I replied to discuss "their entire game catalog not available for macos"? No. The claim was ”NO AAA game devs want to risk making stuff for mac OS” and we all know (obviously not all) that's not the case.
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you're right but this is all almost semantics at this point. i hope/think one day the reality of gaming on macs will be different but the current stae of things has been this way for 20+ years now. somewhat abysmal.
 
erihp said:
you're right but this is all almost semantics at this point. i hope/think one day the reality of gaming on macs will be different but the current stae of things has been this way for 20+ years now. somewhat abysmal.
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erihp said:
nowhere near the number of games available on any other playform. even linux.
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Was it also about semantics when you suggested that the number of available Mac games is nowhere near Linux? Because that’s also factually incorrect. There are 60,323 Mac games only on Steam (excluding Mac App Store) but 42,513 Linux games. I guess you’re including all the playable Windows games on Linux/Steam Deck but that’s only possible using Proton which is a transition layer. In that case you have to also include all the playable games on Mac via transition layers like Crossover, Game Porting Toolkit, Sikarugir, Wine or more. Remember that this is not a question about Proton being free and ”easier” to use.

Skärmavbild 2026-02-05 kl. 09.18.30.png
 
I think even PSP 3000 is better for gaming than Macs. More games etc. There are. no games on a Mac. Only a few.
 
Homy said:
Was it also about semantics when you suggested that the number of available Mac games is nowhere near Linux? Because that’s also factually incorrect. There are 60,323 Mac games only on Steam (excluding Mac App Store) but 42,513 Linux games. I guess you’re including all the playable Windows games on Linux/Steam Deck but that’s only possible using Proton which is a transition layer. In that case you have to also include all the playable games on Mac via transition layers like Crossover, Game Porting Toolkit, Sikarugir, Wine or more. Remember that this is not a question about Proton being free and ”easier” to use.

View attachment 2601988
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The context, as you know, was AAA games on Silicon based systems. I’m not even trying to argue with you.
 
erihp said:
Nuh uh you can CLEARLY see there’s 60k Mac games, soooo TECHNICALLY….

🙄
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Most of those are awful games. Quality -> quantity
Most Mac games don't even work anymore (The movies for example) etc… and I highly doubt GTA VI will be on a Mac.
 
erihp said:
see there’s 60k Mac games,
🙄
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And yet Macs have a poor reputation for gaming - why is that? I mean if there's 60,000 game titles for macos?

Why are people beseeching publishers, why is apple publishing videos trying to developers to port games?
 
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