Major gaming news at WWDC: Metal and New games

[Nugat Trailers]

XCode 16.3 releases, adding in a couple of interesting things.

1. Processor Trace, https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/analyzing-cpu-usage-with-processor-trace
2. Adds support for testing leaderboards and achievements locally
Adds support for JSON5

 

[diamond.g]

So is CP2077 going to have to wait until WWDC? Maybe they realized with no FG Overdrive mode would make the Mac look bad? I guess I don't get what they are waiting on.

 

[MRMSFC]

PC gamers spend 25% of their time on games that are 2-5 years old and 67% on games that are 6 or more years old, i.e. they spend 92% of their time on games that are 2 or more years old, not new games. Considering games often are released later on Mac PC gamers are mostly like Mac gamers, they play older games, not new releases.

There were also about 908 million PC gamers in the world in 2024. The number is extrapolated but 1% of that would be about 9 million Mac gamers (if we use the Steam stats).

PC gamers spend 92% of their time on older games, oh and there are apparently 908 million of us now

Feels like Destiny.

www.pcgamer.com

P.S. Macrumors has started to give us dog names? 🤔😄
Nevermind, I realised it's April Fools' Day.

Which supports my statement that I think Apple should focus on “top favorites” if they’re going to continue a push in gaming.

 

[salamanderjuice]

PC gamers spend 25% of their time on games that are 2-5 years old and 67% on games that are 6 or more years old, i.e. they spend 92% of their time on games that are 2 or more years old, not new games. Considering games often are released later on Mac PC gamers are mostly like Mac gamers, they play older games, not new releases.

There were also about 908 million PC gamers in the world in 2024. The number is extrapolated but 1% of that would be about 9 million Mac gamers (if we use the Steam stats).

PC gamers spend 92% of their time on older games, oh and there are apparently 908 million of us now

Feels like Destiny.

www.pcgamer.com

P.S. Macrumors has started to give us dog names? 🤔😄
Nevermind, I realised it's April Fools' Day.

I think the important missing context here is that the older games are generally the big older established multiplayer games like Dota 2, GTA Online and not so much older single player games like Death Stranding.

 

[diamond.g]

I think the important missing context here is that the older games are generally the big older established multiplayer games like Dota 2, GTA Online and not so much older single player games like Death Stranding.

Live Service games, which is why Ms/Sony pivoted on the types of games they started releasing. As the article said if you get it right it brings in money "forever" with no real development dollar outlay (past initial investment).

 

[Homy]

Ayasa: Shadows of Silence and Nietzsche's Shadow are coming to Mac.

https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/1joqxoj/we_delighted_to_share_that_the_new_horror

Ayasa: Shadows of Silence on Steam

Brave the shadows in 'Ayasa: Shadows of Silence'. Journey across six realms, solve thought-provoking puzzles, and engage with a narrative rich in horror and philosophy.

store.steampowered.com

Nietzsche's Shadow on Steam

A philosophical horror experience in the Alps: As Friedrich Nietzsche confronts his own shadow, he becomes lost between layers of reality.

store.steampowered.com

 

[AgentMcGeek]

Steam Hardware Survey shows an increase of MacOS users by 0.61%, to 1.58% of total shares. Linux is increasing at a higher pace. Windows stands at around 96%.

 

[Homy]

Only Apple Silicon on the top 10 GPU list.

 

[diamond.g]

Only Apple Silicon on the top 10 GPU list.

View attachment 2498288View attachment 2498289

Hasn't that been the case for a while now?

 

[dmccloud]

Only Apple Silicon on the top 10 GPU list.

View attachment 2498288View attachment 2498289

That makes sense. Now that Apple Silicon is approaching its 5th anniversary of release, the install base is finally reaching critical mass.

 

[Homy]

Hasn't that been the case for a while now?

No, last month when you posted there was still one Intel Mac on the list.

 

[diamond.g]

No, last month when you posted there was still one Intel Mac on the list.

I forgot that I even asked that question, haha.

 

[diamond.g]

‎RoboCop: Rogue City

‎Become the legendary part man, part machine, all cop hero and bring justice to the dangerous, crime-ridden streets of Old Detroit. Uphold the law by any means necessary: With your powerful Auto-9 or one of the other 20 weapons available, eradicate criminals throughout this explosive...

apps.apple.com

Robocop is supposed to be out at the end of the month. Dunno if the price includes all the DLC.

 

[Homy]

‎RoboCop: Rogue City

‎Become the legendary part man, part machine, all cop hero and bring justice to the dangerous, crime-ridden streets of Old Detroit. Uphold the law by any means necessary: With your powerful Auto-9 or one of the other 20 weapons available, eradicate criminals throughout this explosive...

apps.apple.com

Robocop is supposed to be out at the end of the month. Dunno if the price includes all the DLC.

No, since Unfinished Business is planned for Q3. Expensive but at least it has family sharing and hopefully will be on Steam.

Wow! The price is insane on Swedish Mac App Store. It's the most expensive game I've seen. Despite the $US/SEK exchange rate getting lower since Jan from $1 costing 11.25 SEK to 9.76 SEK the game costs 999 SEK or over $102 here. I wonder if it does have to do with the 20% US tariffs against EU.

 

[goro123]

No, since Unfinished Business is planned for Q3. Expensive but at least it has family sharing and hopefully will be on Steam.

Family sharing for such a violent movie… amusing 😅
It's a good movie, I agree, but it had such nasty violence, makes me hesitant to pick up the game (even more than the 70€ !).

BTW AC Shadows is also 70€, but it was released on Mac at the same time as on PC.

Anyway, it's fantastic to see all these games arriving on Mac. I guess we'll need to wait another 6-12 months to assess how the market has reacted and whether game publishers will continue releasing games for Mac.

 

[Homy]

Family sharing for such a violent movie… amusing 😅
It's a good movie, I agree, but it had such nasty violence, makes me hesitant to pick up the game (even more than the 70€ !).

BTW AC Shadows is also 70€, but it was released on Mac at the same time as on PC.

Anyway, it's fantastic to see all these games arriving on Mac. I guess we'll need to wait another 6-12 months to assess how the market has reacted and whether game publishers will continue releasing games for Mac.

Not even AC Shadows costs so much. That one costs "only" 769 SEK or $79/71€ here.

 

[goro123]

Some screenshots from

Not even AC Shadows costs so much. That one costs "only" 769 SEK or $79/71€ here.

Interesting, in France they both cost 69.99€.

 

[goro123]

Just tried Stray and Alien Isolation on my new M4 Max. Wow, these games are beautiful. And Alien still looks gorgeous, what an amazing achievement for such an old game.

 

[diamond.g]

Just tried Stray and Alien Isolation on my new M4 Max. Wow, these games are beautiful. And Alien still looks gorgeous, what an amazing achievement for such an old game.

I find that older games in enclosed spaces, that had good lighting tend to still look good even now. Where modern games have "screwed up" is making everything "open world". Makes everything more difficult.

 

[dmccloud]

No, since Unfinished Business is planned for Q3. Expensive but at least it has family sharing and hopefully will be on Steam.

Wow! The price is insane on Swedish Mac App Store. It's the most expensive game I've seen. Despite the $US/SEK exchange rate getting lower since Jan from $1 costing 11.25 SEK to 9.76 SEK the game costs 999 SEK or over $102 here. I wonder if it does have to do with the 20% US tariffs against EU.

View attachment 2498956

Wouldn't part of that be attributed to the inclusion of VAT (25% in Sweden if I recall correctly) in the App Store pricing? The US Tariffs would affect products manufactured in EU nations and exported to the US, not products exported to EU member nations. Sweden could have implemented reciprocal tariffs (as have some other countries) on imports from the US, which might also affect local App Store pricing.

 

[salamanderjuice]

Wouldn't part of that be attributed to the inclusion of VAT (25% in Sweden if I recall correctly) in the App Store pricing? The US Tariffs would affect products manufactured in EU nations and exported to the US, not products exported to EU member nations. Sweden could have implemented reciprocal tariffs (as have some other countries) on imports from the US, which might also affect local App Store pricing.

It's significantly higher than the EU prices on Steam for Robo Cop at release which also include VAT.

 

[Homy]

Wouldn't part of that be attributed to the inclusion of VAT (25% in Sweden if I recall correctly) in the App Store pricing? The US Tariffs would affect products manufactured in EU nations and exported to the US, not products exported to EU member nations. Sweden could have implemented reciprocal tariffs (as have some other countries) on imports from the US, which might also affect local App Store pricing.

It's 25% VAT here but that's included in other prices too and those haven't changed. Apparently it was a typo by the MAS because now it costs 599SEK which is about $60. It appears that the price has been reduced all over the world. In the US it costs $50 instead of $70 and in Canada it's down to $65 from $100.

 

[Nugat Trailers]

It's 25% VAT here but that's included in other prices too and those haven't changed. Apparently it was a typo by the MAS because now it costs 599SEK which is about $60. It appears that the price has been reduced all over the world. In the US it costs $50 instead of $70 and in Canada it's down to $65 from $100.

View attachment 2499331

Yeah, in Australia, it went from $99.99 to the... rather odd price of $73.90.
(40 cents more expensive than on Steam.)

 

[ProQuiz]

Just tried Stray and Alien Isolation on my new M4 Max. Wow, these games are beautiful. And Alien still looks gorgeous, what an amazing achievement for such an old game.

I absolutely loved Alien: Isolation (I played it on PC when I still had my PC). Can't wait for the sequel. I wonder if it will come to Mac.

 

[Homy]

Yeah, in Australia, it went from $99.99 to the... rather odd price of $73.90.
(40 cents more expensive than on Steam.)

It can be pre-ordered now with another price cut. It costs now about $42 or €38 here. It's cheaper than Steam where it costs €50.