Balatro is currently on the rise in Apple Arcade
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Mac gaming may have had its best year yet, but the promise of more arrivals to the platform could make things even better for Apple gamers.
Once upon a time, one of the authors of this article, Mike Wurtele, worked as a consultant on gaming evangelism. It was right around the turn of the century, Halo wasn’t out, and Unreal Tournament was the king of shooters on the Mac.
The job didn’t last long. Apple’s view quickly changed, and the role only lasted a few months. Oh well.
Then along came Intel. Boot Camp made Windows gaming possible, and Intel processors made porting games easier in theory. But that never happened, since DirectX was the name of the game on Windows.
Anyway, fast forward many years, architecture changes again, and the Mac is still not one of the most popular gaming platforms. Consoles, PC games, and mobile games continue to dominate the market, with the Mac being seen as more of a gimmick than a gaming destination.
Unusually, 2024 has been a banner year for macOS game shipments. The year ended with a pair of Game Awards events.
Balatro, a poker-based roguelike card game, won three awards, including best independent game and best indie debut. It was also in contention for Game of the Year in a very strong field, but ultimately lost out to Astro Bot.
The key point for Mac games here is that Balatro is available on Mac, along with many other platforms. It’s also a big win for Apple Arcade, as Balatro+ is part of the subscription and is arguably one of its most popular titles now.
The game also won Apple Arcade Game of the Year at Apple’s App Store Awards.
Other winners available on Mac include long-running League of Legends for Best Esports Game, Frostpunk 2 for Best Simulation/Strategy Game, and Baldur's Gate 3 for Best Community Support.
The gaming awards show also featured plenty of announcements of upcoming games. Among big titles like The Witcher 4 and Intergalactic, a gameplay demo of Crimson Desert was shown.
Originally announced back in 2019, it's an open-world action-adventure set on the fictional continent of Pywell. The show featured combat mechanics, wyvern flying, and expansive landscapes, as well as a release date of late 2025.
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After that date, the trailer revealed the platforms it would be shown on. Along with Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox, a fourth Mac App Store symbol appeared.
While it’s common to see iOS mentioned at the end of trailers for big mobile games, it’s rare to see the Mac mentioned in a big-budget title.
Overall, there were plenty of Mac games that performed well or were proudly featured at the 2024 Game Awards, all at the end of a year that has seen the Mac become an even more viable platform for gaming.
A Big Year for Mac Releases, with More to Come
Mac gamers had a lot to cheer about this year, with a number of big games coming to the platform. Beyond the winners mentioned above, there were quite a few high-profile launches on macOS.
This list includes several installments of the famous Resident Evil franchise. Resident Evil 7 came to Apple Silicon in July, continuing the franchise's revival program, while Resident Evil 2 came out a little earlier than expected in December.
One of the early 2024 releases was Death Stranding: Director's Cut, a game announced by gaming industry star Hideo Kojima at WWDC 2023. Kojima's presence was a big sign for the future of Mac gaming, as it was effectively an endorsement from a gaming heavyweight.
Death Stranding: Director's Cut Title Card – Image Credit: Kojima Productions
Neva, another Game Awards winner from the makers of the acclaimed Gris, has been coming to Mac since its launch in October, along with all other platforms.
There was also Darkest Dungeon II, Red Hook Studios' sequel, which was ported to run on macOS in August after many fans used a Windows emulator to play it.
Of course, there's plenty more coming to Mac, especially when it comes to AAA games.
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is coming to Mac in early 2025. CD Projekt Red's game will run on Apple Silicon and will use features like path tracing, frame generation, and spatial audio.
While Assassin's Creed Shadows was originally expected to launch in November, it will instead debut on Mac in February 2025. It was explained at the time that the teams working on the game needed “more time to polish and perfect the experience.”
Reality-bending shooter Control is also on the way, also set to launch in February.
Apple's Big Push
Releases and upcoming launches aren't the only things that speak in the Mac's favor when it comes to gaming. In 2024, Apple continued to push for the Mac to be taken more seriously.
During WWDC, Apple unveiled the second-generation Game Porting Toolkit. While it was intended to give developers an easy way to see how their games would play on the Mac before committing to a full port, that didn’t stop gamers from tinkering with it to play other games.
The new version promised improved Windows compatibility and shader debugging tools for developers looking to port Windows games to the Mac.
The toolkit also added improved support for Xcode across all Apple platforms, meaning developers could use a common codebase across the Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Remedy Entertainment’s Control was the de facto Game Porting Toolkit at the time.
Apple’s support is certainly an incentive for developers to try out the platform. While major game launches on the Mac have largely failed, developers have a bet on whether things will improve in the future.
While Apple is naturally interested in launching AAA games on macOS, it’s not the only one making the same bet on the future.
Cyberpink 2077 is coming to macOS soon – Image credit: CD Projekt Red
Epic Games, Apple’s longtime courtroom opponent, is making more of an effort to work with Mac hardware. Its Unreal Engine was updated in version 5.2 to include native support for Apple Silicon.
With Unreal Engine used as the foundation for many big titles in the gaming industry, as well as many non-AAA titles, Apple Silicon's support was another encouraging sign. Since game production is typically a multi-year endeavor, it was also a bet that things could get better in the industry going forward.
To be fair to the current situation, Mac gaming is far behind the rest of the industry when it comes to player count. Consoles, PCs, and even mobile gaming all have much larger audiences than macOS, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.
The Mac versions have certainly fallen short when compared to their console counterparts. It won't be close to a comparable comparison anytime soon.
Of course, there won’t be a sudden sea change when everyone picks up an M4 Mac mini to use as a gaming console. If anything, this is a long-term play for incremental improvement.
The recognition of Mac games at the Game Awards, as well as Apple’s continued efforts to attract developers and the occasional AAA launch, at least hint at a future where Macs are a viable gaming platform.
That is, if developers can tear themselves away from Balatro for a few minutes.
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