In macOS Sonoma, coming this fall, Apple introduces Game Mode which automatically gives games top priority on the CPU and GPU of your Mac, lowering usage for background tasks. And it dramatically reduces latency with wireless accessories, like AirPods and your favorite controllers, for responsiveness you can feel. Apple also has a secret weapon for bringing PC games to Mac: DirectX 12 support.
Buried in the [WWDC] keynote was a macOS feature that Apple should have called out with more fanfare: DirectX 12 support for macOS. As PC gamers already know, this software support means the floodgates are open for some real games — not that casual Apple Arcade stuff — on Mac. Maybe, just maybe, this is the beginning of the end to the old joke that Macs can’t play AAA games.
It turns out that Apple added DirectX 12 support via something it is calling the Game Porting Toolkit, a tool Apple is offering to developers to see how their existing x86 DirectX 12 games work on Macs powered by Apple silicon. That toolkit largely takes place as a 20,000 line of code patch to Wine, a compatibility layer designed to bring support for Windows games to platforms such as Linux, BSD, and macOS.
With zero need to modify any game code, games such as Grand Theft Auto V, Diablo IV, Cyberpunk 2077, and Hogwart’s Legacy can now run on Apple silicon Macs almost as if they’re native. Naturally (and quicker than anyone expected), enthusiasts and game developers started to try out the new toolkit. YouTube videos, Reddit posts, and Mac gaming wikis have been busy showing off some truly remarkable results on machines that just days earlier, were utterly unable to play AAA titles.
MacDailyNews Note: Some examples:
Apple's new game porting toolkit is fantastic. Here's Cyperbunk 2077 running at Ultra on an M1 MacBook Pro 16 GB! pic.twitter.com/hylzMU6U46
— Isaac (@isaacmarovitz) June 6, 2023
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
No thanks. I don’t want slow performing and bug ridden WINE emulated games. Apple needs a way to make it easy for developers to develop NATIVE macOS code. Maybe some sort of tool that can translate DX source code to Metal without runtime translation. Or perhaps Apple can step in with the big publishers like EA and Activision to help them natively port games to their platform.
Did you read the article?
“With zero need to modify any game code, games such as Grand Theft Auto V, Diablo IV, Cyberpunk 2077, and Hogwart’s Legacy can now run on Apple silicon Macs almost as if they’re native. Naturally (and quicker than anyone expected), enthusiasts and game developers started to try out the new toolkit. YouTube videos, Reddit posts, and Mac gaming wikis have been busy showing off some truly remarkable results on machines that just days earlier, were utterly unable to play AAA titles. ”
Sounds pretty good to me.
Although I have zero interest in games I know lots of people do. It seems to me that if would be in apples interest to engage with the big games developers to port their products to the MAC platform. It would definitely bring a lot more customers to the Mac.
Evangelicals thrive on violent gaming; The more brutal they are, the better for the Christian soul to repent later.