Vortex Gaming

Since introducing silicon chips to its Mac lineup in late 2020, Apple has heavily promoted the widening range of playable games. They even introduced a porting toolkit for developers, showing their willingness to actively approach gamers.

No one buys a Mac to play games, but people who use Macs sometimes want to spend their leisure time gaming. The increasing number of games for Mac is good news. But has the state of Mac gaming actually improved? Let's take a look at how much the experience of playing games on a Mac has changed without unofficial methods like Boot Camp or Android emulators.

Gaming on a MacBook, is it getting better now?

Since Apple introduced the silicon (M1) chip, Mac OS has undergone significant changes in both performance and accessibility. Compared to previous Intel Macs, the M1 chip has dramatically improved both CPU and GPU, allowing high-spec games that were previously difficult to run smoothly. This technological advancement has reached the M4 chip, and Apple emphasizes that you can enjoy heavy tasks such as video editing and design, as well as AAA games smoothly.

Looking specifically at gaming, Apple also introduced a game porting toolkit at WWDC in 2023. This was to support developers in easily porting Windows games to Mac, and some gamers at the time showed enthusiasm by directly running their desired Windows games on Mac using the tool. As software support is added to hardware development, Mac's accessibility to games is gradually improving.

Of course, this only refers to the development within the Mac ecosystem, and there is still a significant gap compared to high-end PCs (Windows). Some foreign media evaluate that Apple Silicon's integrated GPU has become as powerful as mid- to high-end external GPUs in similar laptops, and claim that the latest M4 Max chip shows graphics scores at the level of high-end laptop GPUs. However, when compared to desktop GPUs, it is still lacking in absolute performance, and Windows is far superior in the area of running the latest games at 4K resolution and ultra options.

Although some of the latest graphics effects such as ray tracing can now be used, even this is only 'possible' and not enough to run the game smoothly. If you look at foreign communities such as Reddit, you can often see mentions that the frame rate drops significantly when increasing performance options in some titles, and this is why.

Therefore, Mac's market share in the gaming market is still very low. According to recent Steam statistics, Mac OS users account for less than 1% (0.97%). Linux accounts for 1.45%, and the rest is all Windows.

Contrary to what Apple has been emphasizing recently, it is perhaps natural that the proportion of Mac gamers has been decreasing over the years. There are countless reasons for this, including issues with optimization, a limited number of titles, and the inability to use Boot Camp (installing Windows on Mac OS) since the introduction of silicon.

Nevertheless, the Mac game library is still expanding, and efforts are being made to overcome the situation little by little. In particular, between 2023 and 2024, popular games were released for Mac in large numbers, and games such as 'Baldur's Gate 3', 'Death Stranding: Director's Cut', and 'Lies of P' were released for Mac, attracting attention for a while. As of 2025, the latest installment in the 'Assassin's Creed' series, Shadows, has also released a Mac version at the same time as its release date.

"Can you do it now to some extent?" I tried playing it myself

Although things are getting better, the Mac's game ecosystem and accessibility are still difficult. The reactions of Mac gamers in overseas communities are no different. Satisfaction has increased compared to the past, but the reviews are still mostly disappointing.

These community users also left a rather witty analogy about the Mac's gaming environment. They said, "Mac games are like the Wii U." They compared it to the Wii U system at the time, which had excellent hardware but a limited number of games that could be played.

Although the development of silicon chips has allowed some games to be enjoyed comfortably in the Mac ecosystem, the lack of games to play is still holding it back. In fact, many Mac gamers are using virtual machines and other routes as alternatives to Boot Camp, which is not supported on silicon, to run Windows games, and as mentioned above, there have been cases of experimenting with running Windows games directly using the game porting toolkit.

However, these unofficial methods are not only cumbersome to set up, but also cannot guarantee perfect compatibility. For general users, only games released exclusively for Mac OS are still stable, and although the number has increased compared to the past, it is still not enough.

The most stable way to run games on Mac OS right now is very simple. It is to purchase and enjoy games that have been certified for Mac compatibility from the App Store. You can easily find major works such as the remake Resident Evil series, Palworld, and Valheim, and you can also enjoy the advantages (?) of the Apple ecosystem, where everything from downloading to running is done with almost one touch.

Of course, using the Mac Steam platform is also a good way. It's a great opportunity to be included in the less than 1% of the world's population that uses Steam on a Mac. You can't play games that don't support Mac (which make up the majority of Steam), but if a game supports Mac, like 'Baldur's Gate 3', you can play it without difficulty.

Some games have not been developed for Mac, but are listed on the Mac App Store. In the case of 'Girls' Frontline 2: Exile', you can install the iPad version on your MacBook, and it gave the feeling that it showed quite high compatibility due to the nature of the strategy game.

Also, although it is not highly recommended, using 'iPhone screen mirroring', which is supported from iOS18 and Mac OS Sequoia or higher, can be a method. Although it is based on the same silicon chip, there are very few games that are supported on iPhones or iPads that can also be run on Macs. For example, in order to run games like 'Genshin Impact' on a Mac, you have to take unofficial methods. However, it is possible to display the iPhone screen through screen mirroring and run the game through it.

Of course, this is not a perfect method either. It's just that the iPhone screen is displayed on the Mac screen, so the operation input is very limited. Action games that require the use of both thumbs are almost impossible to play, but if it's a game like 'Mabinogi Mobile' that supports portrait mode and auto-battle, it seems that it can be used to pass the time from time to time without any problems.

That's right. Peripherals are also one of the areas where the Mac gaming ecosystem shows disappointment. It's not much different from a Windows PC in that it uses a keyboard and mouse, but it's almost impossible to play games with Apple's official keyboard and mouse. (Even if that mouse is expensive?)

Therefore, the presence or absence of compatible input devices such as gaming mice or controllers also has a great impact on the Mac gaming experience. Fortunately, Mac OS natively supports Xbox and PlayStation controllers, but whether the game has perfect compatibility is another matter.

A welcome rain for Mac users? 'Wuthering Waves'

In the same context, the Mac version of 'Wuthering Waves', which was officially released on March 27, was welcome news for Mac game users who had been thirsty for subculture games. People who had been forcibly running games using unofficial methods can now run the game with one click from the App Store, which has also increased accessibility.

According to the App Store, 'Wuthering Waves' can be run on Macs with Mac OS 12.0 or higher and an M1 chip or higher. It can be judged that most of the Mac lineup after silicon can be run, but it seems that specification compromises will be necessary for early models such as the M1 MacBook Air.

As a result of actually running the game, quite comfortable gameplay was possible. Of course, it should be taken into account that it was an M4 MAX chip, but it also gives the impression that it is convenient to optimize according to the device performance because quite detailed specification adjustments are possible in the options screen. However, there was a slight difficulty in setting the resolution. The resolution size supported in windowed mode is too small, and when selecting full screen, the resolution cannot be changed separately.

The fact that the maximum FPS can be set up to 120 is expected to be good news for users with high-end Macs. In this case, it seems that some heat and fan noise are added while playing the game, but it gives users a choice to see a smooth screen even if they endure it.

The controller was also recognized quickly without any special steps. When playing the game using a PS5 DualSense (wired), I couldn't feel much difference from the Windows version, but the fact that it doesn't support vibration at all was disappointing.

Another notable point was that it was "surprisingly playable" even when playing with Apple's Magic Trackpad. If you try to use the touchpad located under the MacBook keyboard, your hands overlap and spoil the playing experience, but if you place the Magic Trackpad on the right, you can play the game as comfortably as with a normal keyboard/mouse. Of course, it takes some getting used to at first that touching with one finger is a left click and touching with two fingers is a right click, but it made me think that I didn't have to buy a gaming mouse additionally to play 'Wuthering Waves'. (I didn't even try the Magic Mouse... to protect my wrist)

The well-optimized part is also meaningful in its own way. 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows', which was released for Mac around the same time, is being sold on the App Store for over 70,000 won, but the user reviews are very negative. It is difficult to run at 4K resolution even with the latest GPU, and even if it runs well, the game screen often falls below 25-30 frames. Most gamers will honestly feel that there is no need to play a game that can be enjoyed at 60fps on a Windows PC or PS5 on a Mac, compromising on resolution and frame rate.

Also, although it adopts the same partially paid business model as other mobile collection-type RPGs, 'Wuthering Waves' is basically a free game to enjoy on the App Store. If there are Mac users who have not been able to play a proper game for various reasons, it would be a good game to enjoy in their spare time.

There's a long way to go, but it's not bad

In summary, the Mac's gaming ecosystem today has grown more significantly than ever before. The dramatic performance improvement achieved by the introduction of Apple Silicon has brought many games to a 'playable' level, and game accessibility is also improving due to changes in Apple's support policies.

Although there is a big difference from Windows in terms of the number of supported titles and graphics performance, the reaction of the Mac user community is positive. The perception that "games can now be played on Mac" is spreading, and it has become common to enjoy AAA-class games such as Capcom's Resident Evil series and Baldur's Gate 3 on Mac.

From people who use Macs for work reasons to users who simply choose Macs because they like the design. Now, you no longer have to completely give up gaming just because you chose a Mac. We don't know how much Apple will continue to invest in the gaming field in the future, but let's look forward to the day when 'gaming on a Mac' is no longer a special thing, but an ordinary choice.

웹진 인벤김규만 기자
2025-04-10