Civilization VI gets a speed boost thanks to Apple Silicon update

Armchair generals can now conquer the world even faster on their Mac, with "Civilization VI" now supporting Apple Silicon.

Sid Meier's Civilization VI, also known as Civ VI has been a long-time mainstay of strategy gaming on the Mac, having been available on the platform since 2016. However, a recent change has brought the game kicking and screaming to modern times.

In August, Aspyr Media released an update to the Mac App Store for the game, making it optimized for Apple Silicon. In AppleInsider's testing of the game, it now loads about twice as fast as it did in its Intel-based release, and is much faster too, especially in the very demanding endgame.

The release is a universal app, so it still supports Intel Macs as well as newer Apple Silicon-based versions.

At the same time as Apple Silicon optimization, the Mac App Store listing says that all-new monthly challenges have been added. These provide limited-time challenges to take on unique scenarios as a specific leader, with an in-game Hall of Fame badge up for grabs.

This is not the first time that Civilization VI has run on Apple's self-designed chips. AppleInsider raved about the iPad release of the game in 2018, followed closely by an iPhone release.

The Civilization series puts players in the role of a historical leader, who must lead their country and culture that can compete with others in the world. Civ VI provided experienced players with new ways to tweak their civilizations for success, while also introducing new tutorials to bring in new players.

Gamers wanting to play the next major entry in the strategy series will have a bit of a wait. It was revealed that Civilization VII will ship on Mac and other platforms on February 11, 2025.

7 Comments

blastdoor 3594 comments · 15 Years

About 3 months ago

I guess this speaks to what a shoestring budget Aspyr has for making Mac games. The iPad version of the game is obviously apple silicon native and has been out for quite some time. I would think the vast majority of the iPad codebase can move pretty easily to the Mac.

Apple really needs to figure out a way to invest in Mac game development. Maybe they could offer zero interest loans to companies like Aspyr to port games to the Mac and only require payback of the loans if sales targets are met. Or any other idea, really.

brianm 49 comments · 10 Years

About 3 months ago

Hmmm... the Steam Mac version is listed as being Aspyr, hopefully it gets updated there as well.

Marvin 15355 comments · 18 Years

About 3 months ago

blastdoor said:

I guess this speaks to what a shoestring budget Aspyr has for making Mac games.

It says here they have 140 employees and their parent company Saber Interactive was bought by Embracer Group for $100m:

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/embracer-group-acquires-aspyr-media-for-usd100m

For game porting, the team should be large enough but they won't be able to do many games per year. The list of games they've ported suggests they do 2-4 games per year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_ported_by_Aspyr

Embracer lost a $2b funding deal and had to massively downsize, they let go just over 1/4 of their employees across multiple studios, including divesting Aspyr's old parent company while keeping Aspyr:

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/embracer-cut-ties-with-more-than-4-500-employees-and-cancelled-80-projects-over-the-past-year

They are now splitting into 3 separate companies:

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/embracer-splitting-into-three-standalone-companies-to-search-for-winning-formulas-

I'd guess Aspyr will be under the Middle Earth Enterprises and Friends (not final name) company as that group will handle AAA games. Projects get affected with major company restructuring.

The new companies will probably be suitable for an acquisition. The whole group has a market cap of around $3b and when they split, each separate company will be lower. Their AAA group has the Tomb Raider and Lord of the Rings IP.

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2023/06/22/116670-embracer-confirms-lord-of-the-rings-ip-cost-395-million/

Amazon might want to buy them out but it could be an opportunity for Apple to quickly get multiple AAA game studios and popular IP for <5% of their yearly net income.

blastdoor 3594 comments · 15 Years

About 3 months ago

Marvin said:

blastdoor said:

I guess this speaks to what a shoestring budget Aspyr has for making Mac games.

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2023/06/22/116670-embracer-confirms-lord-of-the-rings-ip-cost-395-million/

Amazon might want to buy them out but it could be an opportunity for Apple to quickly get multiple AAA game studios and popular IP for <5% of their yearly net income.

Yeah, Apple could buy them, or hire their staff, or lots of other stuff. Key is to spend some $$ in a purposeful and realistic way to realize the full potential of Mac gaming which, I believe, is considerable.

22july2013 3736 comments · 11 Years

About 3 months ago

blastdoor said:

Marvin said:

blastdoor said:

I guess this speaks to what a shoestring budget Aspyr has for making Mac games.

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2023/06/22/116670-embracer-confirms-lord-of-the-rings-ip-cost-395-million/

Amazon might want to buy them out but it could be an opportunity for Apple to quickly get multiple AAA game studios and popular IP for <5% of their yearly net income.

Yeah, Apple could buy them, or hire their staff, or lots of other stuff. Key is to spend some $$ in a purposeful and realistic way to realize the full potential of Mac gaming which, I believe, is considerable.

If you include the gaming services (including Apple Arcade) and the individual games that I've purchased, I've definitely spent over $200/year for 20+ years on Mac games. Wow, that's $4000. I didn't know I spent that much.