Mac representation at Game Awards caps off a good year for macOS gaming

Gaming on Mac has arguably enjoyed its best year ever, but the promise of more arrivals to the platform could make things even better for Apple-based gamers.

Once upon a time, one of the authors of this piece, Mike Wuerthele, worked as a consultant for games advocacy. It was right around the turn of the century, and Halo wasn't coming, and Unreal Tournament was the king of shooters on the Mac.

That job didn't last long. Apple's gaze shifted quickly then, with the role only lasting a few months. Oh well.

Then, Intel arrived. Boot Camp made Windows gaming possible, and Intel processors in theory made game porting easier. Except, it really didn't as DirectX was the name of the game on Windows.

Anyway, fast forward to many years later, and an architecture shift again, and the Mac is still not exactly one of the most popular gaming platforms. Consoles, PC gaming, and mobile gaming continue to dominate the market, with the Mac viewed more as a curiosity than a gaming destination.

Uncharacteristically, 2024 has been a banner year for shipping games on macOS. The year has culminated with a couple of events at the Game Awards.

Balatro, the poker-based roguelike card game, won three awards including best independent game and best debut indie game. It was also in the running for Game of the Year in a very strong field, but ultimately losing out to Astro Bot.

The key for Mac gaming here is that Balatro is available on Mac alongside many other platforms. It's also a big win for Apple Arcade, as Balatro+ is part of the subscription, and arguably now one of its most critically-acclaimed titles.

It also happened to win at Apple's App Store Awards for the category of Apple Arcade Game of the Year.

Other award winners available on Mac include the long-standing League of Legends for Best Esports Game, Frostpunk 2 for Best Sim/Strategy Game, and Baldur's Gate 3 for Best Community Support.

The game awards also featured a lot of announcements for upcoming games. Among the major titles like The Witcher 4 and Intergalactic was a gameplay showcase for Crimson Desert.

Originally announced back in 2019, it's an open-world action-adventure based on the fictional continent of Pywell. Combat mechanics, flight on a wyvern, and an expansive landscape was on show, as well as a release slated for late 2025.

After that date, the trailer included the platforms it will be on. Alongside Steam, the PlayStation 5, and Xbox platforms was a fourth symbol for the Mac App Store.

While it's fairly common to see major mobile games mentioning iOS at the end of trailers, it's a rarity to see Mac mentioned for a big-budget title.

All told, this was a lot of Mac-based gaming that did well or was proudly represented at the 2024 Game Awards. All at the end of a year when Mac became even more of a viable platform for gaming.

A big year for Mac releases, with more to come

Mac gamers had a lot to cheer about in the year, with many major titles making its way to the platform. Aside from the award winners mentioned above, there were quite a few high-profile launches on macOS.

That list includes a few installments of the well-known Resident Evil franchise. Resident Evil 7 landed on Apple Silicon in July, continuing the franchise's revival program, meanwhile Resident Evil 2 arrived a bit earlier than expected in December.

One early 2024 release was Death Stranding: Director's Cut, a game previewed by gaming luminary Hideo Kojima at WWDC 2023. Kojima's presence was a big sign for Mac's gaming future, with it effectively being an endorsement from a gaming heavyweight.

Title card for Death Stranding: Director's Cut - Image credit: Kojima Productions

Neva, another Game Awards winner and from the creators of the widely-acclaimed Gris, landed on Mac at launch in October, alongside all other platforms.

There was also Darkest Dungeon II, the Red Hook Studios sequel, which was ported to run natively on macOS in August after many fans used a Windows emulator to play it.

Of course, there's a lot more to come on Mac, especially when it involves AAA games.

Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition will be launched on Mac in early 2025. The CD Projekt Red game will be running on Apple Silicon, and will take advantage of features like path tracing, frame generation, and Spatial Audio.

While originally expected to arrive in November, Assassin's Creed Shadows will instead be making its Mac debut in February 2025. At the time, it was explained that the teams working on the game wanted "more time to polish and refine the experience."

Reality-bending shooter Control is also on the way, also with a February launch window.

A bigger Apple push

The releases and upcoming launches aren't the only things in the Mac's favor when it comes to gaming. In 2024, Apple continued to push for Mac to be taken more seriously.

During WWDC, Apple introduced a second-generation Game Porting Toolkit. While it was intended to give developers an opportunity to easily see how their games would play on Mac before undergoing a full port, it didn't stop gamers from tinkering with it to play other titles.

The new version promised improved Windows compatibility and shader debugging tools to developers keen to bring Windows games over to Mac.

The toolkit also added enhanced Xcode support across all of Apple's platforms, meaning that developers can use a shared codebase across Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Remedy Entertainment's Control was practically a poster child for the Game Porting Toolkit at the time.

The backing from Apple is certainly an encouragement to developers who want to try out the platform. Despite the reality that major game launches have pretty much flopped on Mac, the bet developers face is whether the landscape will improve in the future.

While Apple naturally has an interest in getting AAA games running on macOS, it's not the only one making the same bet on the future.

Cyberpink 2077 is coming soon to macOS - Image credit: CD Projekt Red

Epic Games, a long-time courtroom opponent of Apple, has been making more of an effort to work with Mac hardware. Its Unreal Engine was updated in version 5.2 to include native Apple Silicon support.

With Unreal Engine being used as the base of many big-name titles in the games industry, as well as many non-AAA games, the support for Apple Silicon was another encouraging sign. With game production typically being a multi-year effort, it too wagered that things could be better for the industry further down the road.

To be fair to the current situation, Mac gaming is nowhere near the rest of the industry when it comes to player counts. Consoles, PC, and even mobile gaming all have far bigger audiences than macOS has, and probably will for the foreseeable future.

The Mac versions are certainly flops when you compare them against console counterparts. It's not going to be anywhere close to a like-for-like comparison anytime soon.

There certainly won't be a sudden sea change where everyone picks up an M4 Mac mini to use as a game console. If anything, it's a long-term play for gradual improvement.

The acknowledgement of Mac gaming at the Game Awards, as well as Apple's continued attempts to woo developers, and the occasional AAA launch, at least hints at a future where Macs are a viable game platform.

That is, if developers can pull themselves away from Balatro for a few minutes.