Major gaming news at WWDC: Metal and New games

[modlife]

They probably could, but it likely would cost them more in on going support and porting than they would make back from folks buying the game.

I mean if Apple offered to pay for the port and handle all the support for macOS players, then maybe they would be inclined to make a go at a macOS version?

I think Playstation Studios titles would be way more popular than almost anything currently in the App Store. Imagine you have Spiderman 2 on the App Store...or imagine Apple putting screenshots of that game on MacBook Air boxes... Almost nobody is going to buy a Macbook because they can play Lies of P. But if people can play God of War or Spiderman 2 on their MacBooks, Mac minis or iPhones, with a nice publicity campaign it can help move devices and accessories.

 

[diamond.g]

I think Playstation Studios titles would be way more popular than almost anything currently in the App Store. Imagine you have Spiderman 2 on the App Store...or imagine Apple putting screenshots of that game on MacBook Air boxes... Almost anybody is going to buy a Macbook because they can play Lies of P. But if people can play God of War or Spiderman 2 on their MacBooks, Mac minis or iPhones, with a nice publicity campaign it can help move devices and accessories.

It is a gamble Sony of Japan doesn't want to take. 🤷‍♂️

 

[modlife]

Not yet, we'll see. Who would've thought they'll release their games on PC in the first place...

 

[goro123]

At WWDC 25 Apple again demonstrated a constant commitment to gaming. This continued focus is perhaps the best news possible for developers and players. With multiple sessions/videos dedicated to game development and with Metal progressing steadily (Metal 4), it is reassuring and that is likely a prerequisite of major studios require before investing millions into a platform.

Though we didn't get so many new games announcements, I think this commitment and Metal 4 are far better news.

 

[MRMSFC]

At WWDC 25 Apple again demonstrated a constant commitment to gaming. This continued focus is perhaps the best news possible for developers and players. With multiple sessions/videos dedicated to game development and with Metal progressing steadily (Metal 4), it is reassuring and that is likely a prerequisite of major studios require before investing millions into a platform.

Though we didn't get so many new games announcements, I think this commitment and Metal 4 are far better news.

I hope so, although Apple is aiming at a moving target here. They’re already behind so they’re gonna need more than a token effort to catch up.

 

[kiranmk2]

At WWDC 25 Apple again demonstrated a constant commitment to gaming. This continued focus is perhaps the best news possible for developers and players. With multiple sessions/videos dedicated to game development and with Metal progressing steadily (Metal 4), it is reassuring and that is likely a prerequisite of major studios require before investing millions into a platform.

Though we didn't get so many new games announcements, I think this commitment and Metal 4 are far better news.

It's hard to know what's going on behind the scenes. When GPT launched a few years ago, it was introduced in the presentation as being a way for developers to evaluate their games to see how much work would be needed to port to MacOS. Then the enthusiast community quickly figured out that they could combine GPT with Crossover and get pretty good performance on a lot of Windows games, even on M1 MBAs. By the time GPT 2 was launched, the language changed to how it was a great way for people to play Windows games on Mac. It seemed to me almost like an admission that the initial aim of GPT to convince developers to port their games was not going well, and Apple was giving the strong hint that people should just use GPT to play Windows games directly. To be honest, looking at the launch tests of games like Control on MacOS vs the Windows version via GPT 2/Crossover I didn't see many advantages in the native version...

 

[Homy]

This was a major surprise because I haven't heard or read any announcements. I've always known and assumed Crossover is an Intel app but after the news about Rosetta I double-checked Crossover 24 and 25 and the latter is an "Apple" app now, not Intel anymore. The same goes for Crossover 26 Preview, it's an Apple app. That makes things a lot more easier because GPTK will be around for the devs and users. It still needs Rosetta to run x86 games/apps but Crossover itself has always been a x86 app until now.

 

[salamanderjuice]

This was a major surprise because I haven't heard or read any announcements. I've always known and assumed Crossover is an Intel app but after the news about Rosetta I double-checked Crossover 24 and 25 and the latter is an "Apple" app now, not Intel anymore. The same goes for Crossover 26 Preview, it's an Apple app. That makes things a lot more easier because GPTK will be around for the devs and users.

View attachment 2519081View attachment 2519082

Are you sure if CrossOver is running Windows x64 programs without Rosetta? There are ARM64 Windows apps too.

 

[diamond.g]

Apple recommends at least 30fps before using MetalFX Frame Interpolation. Interesting. Wonder how they deal with the additional input latency.

 

[maflynn]

This was a major surprise because I haven't heard or read any announcements.

I think Rosetta is still needed, so the EOL of Rosetta definitely impacts cross over in the near future. You're right the developers of cross over have yet to address the eventual death of rosetta.

Remember while cross over could be an apple application, its running windows programs that are x86, so its immaterial in many respects that its an apple app.

 

[ProQuiz]

Current Steam Client Beta finally has native Apple silicon support.

Steam :: Steam Client Beta :: Steam Client Beta - June 12th

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes: General Fixed main client window ordering above some modal dialogs when clicked (e.g. cloud file conflict dialogs). Steam Chat Fixed main client window being focused for certain kinds of links opened from chat windows. Fixed...

steamcommunity.com

 

[Homy]

I think Rosetta is still needed, so the EOL of Rosetta definitely impacts cross over in the near future. You're right the developers of cross over have yet to address the eventual death of rosetta.

Remember while cross over could be an apple application, its running windows programs that are x86, so its immaterial in many respects that its an apple app.

Yes, as I wrote in the last sentence. Crossover app is ARM64 but it needs/uses Rosetta for WINE and x86 translations. Rosetta is not getting EOL either because it's needed for GPTK and Crossover. That's why Apple is keeping parts of it. They're deprecating the support for making Universal binaries in Xcode with the help of Rosetta. Perhaps Codeweavers will find a solution with arm64 Wine that's being developed.

Current Steam Beta Client finally has native Apple silicon support.

Steam :: Steam Client Beta :: Steam Client Beta - June 12th

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes: General Fixed main client window ordering above some modal dialogs when clicked (e.g. cloud file conflict dialogs). Steam Chat Fixed main client window being focused for certain kinds of links opened from chat windows. Fixed...

steamcommunity.com

Was literally writing it. That went fast, like 3 days later. Finally! I guess making a native client wasn't that hard after all. Valve just played lazy the past 5 years. Hurry up Epic! Lol 😄

 

[JordanNZ]

Was literally writing it. That went fast, like 3 days later. Finally! I guess making a native client wasn't that hard after all. Valve just played lazy the past 5 years. Hurry up Epic! Lol 😄

Windows and Linux client still 32bit.

 

[nickf]

Was literally writing it. That went fast, like 3 days later. Finally! I guess making a native client wasn't that hard after all. Valve just played lazy the past 5 years. Hurry up Epic! Lol 😄

Hurry up Blizzard too...your POS battle.net app is still X86 code. (Can't update WoW etc without it!)

 

[dmccloud]

It is a gamble Sony of Japan doesn't want to take. 🤷‍♂️

Apple wouldn't necessarily have to go through SCEJ though. SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment America) handles the PlayStation ecosystem in the Americas, and that is most likely who signed off on the PS VR controller support in Vision OS.

 

[dmccloud]

For everyone bemoaning the potential end of Rosetta 2, there is a big difference between building universal binaries and running x86 code on an ARM-based system, which would still be needed to bring over a lot of PC titles to the Mac. With Mac OS 27 being the first AS-only OS, it would be reasonable to assume that universal binaries would not be needed going forward. However, that does not mean the X86-ARM64 translation layer is no longer needed, especially if gaming is to become anything more than an afterthought. From a developer perspective, only having to support one platform with Mac OS 27 and beyond would result in lower overall development and support costs. It is possible that more developers might jump on the GPTK bandwagon once Intel support is not a major concern.

 

[diamond.g]

The full 3DMark app is available on Steam.

I scored 1 389 in Steel Nomad

}

www.3dmark.com

I am not sure what I feel about this score.


EDIT: So I guess I am okay with the score. I didn't realize that the highest score is ~5500. I am actually surprised that the M3 Ultra isn't faster.

3DMark.com search

3DMark.com search

www.3dmark.com

 

[Irishman]

So given the relative brevity the topic of gaming during today's keynote speech - what are people's thoughts. I won't lie, I was expecting more, and more of an emphasis stating that they're fully committed to pursuing gaming on Macs. I'm not saying they're not committed, I was just expecting/hoping a bigger focus

More than Metal 4 and GTPK 3?

 

[iF34R]

The full 3DMark app is available on Steam.

I scored 1 389 in Steel Nomad

}

www.3dmark.com

I am not sure what I feel about this score.


EDIT: So I guess I am okay with the score. I didn't realize that the highest score is ~5500. I am actually surprised that the M3 Ultra isn't faster.

3DMark.com search

3DMark.com search

www.3dmark.com

I'm interested in knowing how the scores can be that different when it's all the same configurations. You can't really modify your hardware like a pc.

 

[diamond.g]

I'm interested in knowing how the scores can be that different when it's all the same configurations. You can't really modify your hardware like a pc.

I assume background processes make a difference.

 

[dmccloud]

Apple recommends at least 30fps before using MetalFX Frame Interpolation. Interesting. Wonder how they deal with the additional input latency.

My guess is they have looked at how both AMD and Nvidia approach this and have taken note that AMDs implementation has less input latency. The approach Nvidia introduced with the 50 series introduces an inordinate amount of latency unless you're running at very high framerates to begin with.

 

[ProQuiz]

I've read that the Steam client (specifically Steam Helper) has a memory leak issue on Mac. If Steam is left running on a Mac for an extended period of time, memory usage will start to go up. It's been happening for a few years now with Steam, if I am not mistaken. Anyone else have this issue? It's been reported it still happens with the Apple silicon native client as well.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/rybovr/steam_client_on_macos_has_a_crazy_memory_leak

 

[iF34R]

I've read that the Steam client (specifically Steam Helper) has a memory leak issue on Mac. If Steam is left running on a Mac for an extended period of time, memory usage will start to go up. It's been happening for a few years now with Steam, if I am not mistaken. Anyone else have this issue? It's been reported it still happens with the Apple silicon native client as well.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/rybovr/steam_client_on_macos_has_a_crazy_memory_leak

This is after a clean restart



This is after at least 18hrs

 

[ProQuiz]

This is after a clean restart



This is after at least 18hrs

Thanks. So it appears that there actually is a memory leak?

 

[Homy]

The Operator for Mac is free on EGS.

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/the-operator-b835e9