Are High-End Macs Shaping Up Future Gaming Scenarios?

When Apple released its M1-powered MacBook, many people were amazed at the efficiency and performance of this chip. Because of this, some are wondering whether Macs are the future of gaming.

So, will we see games and gamers move to Mac and leave the Windows PC behind? Let’s look at the issue closely.

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What Makes Mac the Future of Gaming?

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According to Apple Insider , Apple’s Macintosh computers held an advantage in PC gaming in the 1980s and early ‘90s. However, this is no longer true today. According to Steam’s Hardware and Software Survey June 2023 , Windows holds 96.77% of the Steam market, while MacOS has a measly 1.79%.

But will we see this number increase in the coming years? Especially as Apple continues to release more powerful, efficient, and affordable Apple-silicon-powered Macs and MacBooks?

The MacBook Air and Its Popularity

The launch of the M1 MacBook Air turned the laptop market on its head. With its exceptional efficiency, many users switched to the MacBook Air and the more expensive MacBook Pro to take advantage of its ridiculously long battery life.

Furthermore, its reasonable price made the MacBook Air an outstanding laptop for students . Even some professionals agree that MacBooks are better than other laptops , with many of them switching to macOS from Windows.

So, with this increased userbase, you can expect some of them to want to game on their computer. As more people buy into the Apple ecosystem, the demand for Mac gaming will also slowly increase.

The Game Porting Toolkit Launch

In the June 2023 WWDC keynote, Mac gaming fans gained hope for the future when Apple launched the Game Porting Toolkit. Apple created this tool to help developers port their games to macOS with less effort.

Apple even brought legendary game designer Hideo Kojima on board, where he showcased a macOS port of Death Stranding Director’s Cut, which was initially launched for the PlayStation 4.

If game developers take advantage of this tool, they could theoretically tap into the power of Apple Silicon and allow their games to tap into Apple Silicon’s massive computing power. And the increasing popularity of Macs and MacBooks would give them an enormous market they could tap into.

Macs Can Take Advantage of the Free-to-Play Model on the App Store

One of the things that made mobile gaming popular was the launch of free-to-play games (free vs. free-to-play games: what’s the difference? ). This format allowed many games to form a massive userbase, allowing them to monetize later through battle passes (what are game battle passes? ) or loot boxes (what are gaming loot boxes? ).

And because macOS has the Apple App Store baked into it, it would give many would-be Mac gamers access to a vast library of games already there. Furthermore, if developers could port their iOS games and make them compatible with macOS, it would encourage iPhone gamers to switch to a Mac, allowing them to switch between devices seamlessly.

Steam’s Availability on macOS

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Steam is arguably the most popular gaming service in 2023, and its availability will help gamers switching from Windows to macOS get settled into Mac gaming. By giving gamers a familiar place, Steam for macOS will help encourage gamers to switch to Mac without fearing they’ll have trouble finding their favorite titles.

And if developers take advantage of the Game Porting Toolkit and make the most popular Windows titles on Steam also available for macOS, Mac gamers will use the power of their Apple-silicon-powered laptops and desktops and play AAA games.

In fact, if you have a Mac right now, you can play a handful of high-quality Mac games . And if you see a title you like, you can check if your Mac can run the game before buying it.

What’s Stopping Gamers From Gaming on Mac?

However, despite the power and possibilities of macOS, many gamers are still hesitant to switch to Apple. But why is this so?

Macs Are Expensive

While the MacBook Air and Mac mini are relatively affordable devices for the power they have, they’re still expensive if you compare them to many Windows computers. In fact, this is one of the reasons why Macs aren’t great for gaming .

For example, as of July 2023, the 2020 M1 MacBook Air retails at $999 on the Apple website. Although this is affordable for an Apple device, this is pricey for a three-year-old laptop.

You can buy a brand-new Windows laptop launched in the same year for less than $700 on Amazon—you can check out our best budget gaming laptops, and you’ll find plenty of alternatives to the MacBook Air that’ll better fit your budget.

And if the budget is really tight, you can build a desktop PC for less than $500—Linus Tech Tips shows how he does it on YouTube .

There Is No Way to Upgrade an Apple-Silicon Mac

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Another hallmark of PC gaming is upgrades. As manufacturers continuously release new hardware, you’d want to upgrade your PC incrementally. However, current Apple Silicon Macs are more like consoles. You buy it, and that’s it—no upgrades allowed. This is one of the things we hate about Apple Silicon Macs .

This is similar to gaming consoles, but there’s a big difference: each console generation typically lasts eight to 12 years, but Apple releases a new Apple Silicon generation almost annually.

So, if you like playing on the latest hardware, you have no choice but to buy a new Mac or MacBook annually. Not only is this an expensive endeavor, but it will also produce more e-waste.

Furthermore, Windows PC’s upgradability means that even if you only have a $500 gaming rig today, you could upgrade it next year to a $5,000 monster gaming PC without necessarily replacing everything—something that is impossible with the Apple SoC.

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There Is a Lack of Mac-Exclusive AAA Titles

One thing that brings gamers to a platform is the availability of exclusive games. It has even become a point of contention in Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with Sony complaining that Microsoft will make the Call of Duty franchise an Xbox exclusive if the deal pushes through.

The court hearing also revealed that Sony spends a lot on first-party PlayStation games—one of the biggest revelations in the FTC and Microsoft trial . So, Mac gaming could take off if Apple or another developer invests heavily in some Mac-exclusive titles.

Unfortunately, this isn’t true just yet. Many developers don’t find investing in a Mac-exclusive title profitable because of its low number of gamers. Furthermore, we don’t have any news from Apple that it’s developing a Mac-exclusive game.

Although its developing tools like the Game Porting Toolkit to entice developers to port their popular titles to Mac, it’s not enough. What gamers need are many great Mac-exclusive titles to jump-start Mac gaming.

There Are No Great Gaming Subscription Options on Mac

Aside from the lack of Mac-exclusive AAA titles, Macs also lack an excellent game subscription service.PC gaming has several excellent subscription services , giving gamers access to many titles without spending much money.

If Apple or another developer introduces a Mac gaming subscription service that offers a good number of great titles at an affordable price, then we might see gamers with money switch to Mac. However, this requires extensive investment, and this move is a gamble in and of itself.

Apple Needs to Address Some Issues Before It Can Become a Gaming Giant

While Apple Silicon delivers excellent power and efficiency to Mac hardware, building a gaming empire takes more than that. So, if Apple wants to have a bigger pie in the gaming industry, it needs to invest in so much more.

It must entice developers to create excellent games for macOS, build computers primarily focused on gamers’ needs, and find a way to make gaming on Mac more accessible to more people. If Apple pulls this off, it would severely threaten Windows’ monopoly on the PC gaming market.