• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

INSIDE APPLE'S MASSIVE PUSH TO TRANSFORM THE MAC INTO A GAMING PARADISE

Solidus_T

Member
I would normally say that Apple is going to learn a thing about pricing things reasonably, but the fact that people bought so many 40 series GPUs from Nvidia makes me believe Apple could get away with it too.
 

Celine

Member
I believe they're trying when they release an Apple branded controller. Now they're just a fk'n annoyance with Arcade.
Clap Hanz Golf & Sonic whatisname is lost in that dark pit.
I believe that one is available on Switch (many Apple Arcade exclusives were latter released on Switch):
 

Topher

Gold Member
NOT THROUGH STREAMING

No idea why some people believe it's the same thing.

Steve Martin Idk GIF
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
It's still about porting, instead of using Vulkan they still force Metal
Moltenvk is unkept by the Kronos group.


MoltenVK is a Vulkan Portability implementation. It layers a subset of the high-performance, industry-standard Vulkan graphics and compute API over Apple's Metal graphics framework, enabling Vulkan applications to run on macOS, iOS and tvOS.

Vulkan can literally be ported to any platform easily these days.
 

Flutta

Banned
SO YOU CAN CHANGE AN ARM AND A LEG?

Yeah no, PCMR is where gaming is at. Tim Apple should focus on making MAC’s the best place to send emails instead.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
"In an alternate universe, Apple never lost Halo to its long-time tech nemesis, the Xbox never became a gaming juggernaut because it didn’t have Master Chief, and the Mac — not PC — went on to become the biggest non-console platform for blockbuster games."

I like how Halo was not only the sole key to Microsoft's success but it would've single handedly prevented the rise of Valve and PC.

Helluva AU.
Yeah its pretty on point that the guy writing an apple gaming hype piece knows nothing about gaming.
 

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
I'm not looking forward to that. I don't like what they have done to gaming recently, The last 15 years or so. The App Store, Gacha gaming. Please stay away from my hobby..
 
Sadly I feel like Apple is gonna get an exclusive Kojimbo game. They already trotted him out on stage. He’s a huge apple fanboy as well (naturally).
When all else fails….. Wheel out Kojima! But i do feel if Apple does some things like, add complete windows game emulation to mac, come out with an icloud integrated, affordable game console, or buy valve, it will rip everyone a new asshole
 
Last edited:

Demigod Mac

Member
You wouldn't buy a Mac for the primary purpose of playing games on it, but the inability to easily play a popular game on a Mac is a major disqualifying reason to a lot of people who would otherwise consider getting one for work/productivity.

Apple needs to be courting developers of the most popular multiplayer games that currently lack Mac clients (e.g. FortNite, Counter-Strike 2, Valorant, Overwatch, Apex Legends, Call of Duty, PUBG) and make one-click installers available for them, whether it's by native Apple Silicon ports or the game porting toolkit.

Porting once-popular single player games that are years-old ain't gonna cut it by a long shot.
 
Erm... Lol?

Apple will never be able to compete with PC as a gaming powerhouse for a fairly broad set of reasons:

- PC Gamers want the highest perf at the lowest cost. They won't pay $42,534 for a desktop rig to play the same content at the same quality they can get on a custom-built $2k PC
- PC Gamers don't give a shit about curated OEM hardware configs. They want to customise, personalise and tailor their hardware to their own spec (you can't lock them into Apple chosen GFX cards and charge 40%+ premiums for the underpowered small form factor variants to fit them into macbooks)
- If they don't care for high-end desktop perf, or don't have the space for a desktop they would sooner game on console / handheld to fill their high end content niche
- Apple seem to think it's ok to charge game devs a tax just for the "privilege" of being able to dev for their platforms using only Apple's own proprietary toolchain and programming languages. No one is going to build a studio or talent workforce dedicated to your shitty walled-garden niche universe. The best you'll get is dedicated mobile studios (a billion+ installed base will kinda make that commercially viable) or half-assed performing cross-platform games because they're all transpiled for Apple platforms (because Mac has no installed base so no-one will invest the cost in fine-tuning builds because the returns won't pay for the effort)

If anything, Mac will end up the "big boy" SKU for a nebulous universe of mobile games by mobile devs. Non of the big studios will target this as a dedicated platform in it's own right & therefore, unless the games will run on the latest mobiles, they won't turn up here (e.g. Cyberpunk, major Sony & Xbox titles etc), doesn't matter how performant the hardware will be.
 
Last edited:

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
What's going to happen first: Linux becoming the world's most popular desktop OS or Mac OS becoming the premier place for gamers?
 
I DON'T KNOW WHY BUT I FEEL THE NEED TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS ON THIS THREAD

Apple doesn't take gaming seriously at a hardware level. Everyone knows Apple hardware throttles heavily when exposed to a continuous heavy workload, they do not care about sustained performance and that's a key use case for gaming. I'll take Apple seriously when they start taking sustained performance seriously.
 

Beechos

Member
This would be the only company capable of disrupting the current big 3. Don't games on Apple devices make more money than all 3 console manufacturers combined?
 

reinking

Gold Member
What's going to happen first: Linux becoming the world's most popular desktop OS or Mac OS becoming the premier place for gamers?
This is where people seem confused. Apple doesn't have to become THE premier place for gamers. They just have to offer a competitive alternative to what is already out there. Some of you guys laugh but you better hope MS is paying attention. They do not want a beast like Apple invading the PC gaming space on a competitive level. The day it happens is the day I say goodbye to Windows PC.
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
This would be the only company capable of disrupting the current big 3. Don't games on Apple devices make more money than all 3 console manufacturers combined?

Apple could create a very powerful gaming device and disrupt the current big 3, but they won't because they'd rather continue selling laptops/all-in-one devices/desktops with insane profit margins.



Here you can see someone playing a bunch of PC games in 1440p 60fps on a $3000 MacBook Pro. That $3000 laptop is of course no match for a $500 PS5 when it comes to games. And Apple is perfectly happy with that scenario because they'd rather make tons of money selling expensive lapops to people with more money than sense than compete with Sony, MS and Nintendo in a market with razor thin margins.
 
Last edited:

Crayon

Member
Holy god guys it's not supposed to take over windows. Jesus christ.

The mobile gaming is going good for them. This will just slowly add some aaa games to show off in the digital store and the real store. There are plenty of people cross-shopping pc and mac. Maybe they like to play a game here and there but don't want to buy a console. Seeing resident evil, tomb raider, or hogwarts on there wouldn't hurt. To make it as clear as possible - this is not for someone looking to buy real gaming hardware. It's a bonus for people thinking about a mac.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
This would be the only company capable of disrupting the current big 3. Don't games on Apple devices make more money than all 3 console manufacturers combined?
They make more profit because Apple doesn't have to invest hardly anything they just take 30% of the mtx on iphones plus they have a subscription service. That's why the kind of gaming we are talking about won't happen - because the margins are low and the risks high.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Erm... Lol?

Apple will never be able to compete with PC as a gaming powerhouse for a fairly broad set of reasons:

- PC Gamers want the highest perf at the lowest cost. They won't pay $42,534 for a desktop rig to play the same content at the same quality they can get on a custom-built $2k PC
- PC Gamers don't give a shit about curated OEM hardware configs. They want to customise, personalise and tailor their hardware to their own spec (you can't lock them into Apple chosen GFX cards and charge 40%+ premiums for the underpowered small form factor variants to fit them into macbooks)
- If they don't care for high-end desktop perf, or don't have the space for a desktop they would sooner game on console / handheld to fill their high end content niche
- Apple seem to think it's ok to charge game devs a tax just for the "privilege" of being able to dev for their platforms using only Apple's own proprietary toolchain and programming languages. No one is going to build a studio or talent workforce dedicated to your shitty walled-garden niche universe. The best you'll get is dedicated mobile studios (a billion+ installed base will kinda make that commercially viable) or half-assed performing cross-platform games because they're all transpiled for Apple platforms (because Mac has no installed base so no-one will invest the cost in fine-tuning builds because the returns won't pay for the effort)

If anything, Mac will end up the "big boy" SKU for a nebulous universe of mobile games by mobile devs. Non of the big studios will target this as a dedicated platform in it's own right & therefore, unless the games will run on the latest mobiles, they won't turn up here (e.g. Cyberpunk, major Sony & Xbox titles etc), doesn't matter how performant the hardware will be.

Holy crap… you scared? 🤣

But seriously, what does it matter? What if apple succeeds at bringing consoles games to all apple products? Does that make pc useless?of course not.. it just gives people another option and makes iPhones and mac books that much more useful. If you already have an iPhone or MacBook then might not need anything else to play the few games you want. options are good.
 

Beechos

Member
This is where people seem confused. Apple doesn't have to become THE premier place for gamers. They just have to offer a competitive alternative to what is already out there. Some of you guys laugh but you better hope MS is paying attention. They do not want a beast like Apple invading the PC gaming space on a competitive level. The day it happens is the day I say goodbye to Windows PC.
All the pc advantages would be lost going with apple. You'd basically have the pc equivalent of a console with a much higher premium.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
All the pc advantages would be lost going with apple. You'd basically have the pc equivalent of a console with a much higher premium.
There is a lot more people that have Mac’s and iPhones than consoles though. Why is that so hard to comprehend?
 
Last edited:
Holy god guys it's not supposed to take over windows. Jesus christ.

The mobile gaming is going good for them. This will just slowly add some aaa games to show off in the digital store and the real store. There are plenty of people cross-shopping pc and mac. Maybe they like to play a game here and there but don't want to buy a console. Seeing resident evil, tomb raider, or hogwarts on there wouldn't hurt. To make it as clear as possible - this is not for someone looking to buy real gaming hardware. It's a bonus for people thinking about a mac.
On a fundamental level, most people hate Windows. If something could take over Windows, I think most people would be super happy with that. The problem is that is literally how monopolies work, you can't just replace Windows overnight. Even Apple knows this which is why they aren't openly challenging Windows. They are being very cautious with gaming, especially since as I mentioned Apple isn't willing to spend the money and reduce their hardware margins to focus on sustained performance. iPhones run like SHIT after you've been playing a game on them for more than 3-5 minutes and the engineering required to make them not run like shit is something Apple refuses to spend on. A smart decision when you realize Spider-Man 2 needed to make $700 million to just break even, why the fuck would Apple piss away money chasing that instead of making 70% margins on every iPhone?
 

Crayon

Member
On a fundamental level, most people hate Windows. If something could take over Windows, I think most people would be super happy with that. The problem is that is literally how monopolies work, you can't just replace Windows overnight. Even Apple knows this which is why they aren't openly challenging Windows. They are being very cautious with gaming, especially since as I mentioned Apple isn't willing to spend the money and reduce their hardware margins to focus on sustained performance. iPhones run like SHIT after you've been playing a game on them for more than 3-5 minutes and the engineering required to make them not run like shit is something Apple refuses to spend on. A smart decision when you realize Spider-Man 2 needed to make $700 million to just break even, why the fuck would Apple piss away money chasing that instead of making 70% margins on every iPhone?

I don't know if I'm understanding the last part. Apple doesn't need to make spider man 2, so I think you are talking about spending money to make iphones run cooler. idk how much that's in the picture. Is it known that these games won't have any kind of system requirement other than the os version?
 

Sorcerer

Member
I think gaming is something that Jobs and Cook simply didn't/don't understand. Gaming fell into their laps because of the iPhone, and they made a fortune from it. But it really is nothing Apple themselves cultivated and is responsible for directly. Gaming success happened despite them. Apparently, there are rumors of Tim exiting Apple soon. I think behind the scenes something is brewing in gaming at Apple, but it will happen under the new regime. Grandpa Cook cannot truthfully speak on gaming and probably none of the current elite at Apple can either so I think we will a big shift in gaming mentality when Cook exits. Probably a much younger leader who is more in touch with gaming. And if Apple is working with Crossover, they may not be looking to be game developers themselves but simply will be content with having people play Windows ports on Macs so they can secure more market share for their computers. Kinda strange they killed Bootcamp in the first place. What Apple is doing with their own processors/chips is impressive all things considered, I wonder what the tech will be like in a decade from now?
 
Last edited:

Topher

Gold Member
I think gaming is something that Jobs and Cook simply didn't/don't understand. Gaming fell into their laps because of the iPhone, and they made a fortune from it. But it really is nothing Apple themselves cultivated and is responsible for directly. Gaming success happened despite them. Apparently, there are rumors of Tim exiting Apple soon. I think behind the scenes something is brewing in gaming at Apple, but it will happen under the new regime. Grandpa Cook cannot truthfully speak on gaming and probably none of the current elite at Apple can either so I think we will a big shift in gaming mentality when Cook exits. Probably a much younger leader who is more in touch with gaming. And if Apple is working with Crossover, they may not be looking to be game developers themselves but simply will be content with having people play Windows ports on Macs so they can secure more market share for their computers. Kinda strange they killed Bootcamp in the first place. What Apple is doing with their own processors/chips is impressive all things considered, I wonder what the tech will be like in a decade from now?

Jobs didn't get software in general at times. When iPhone launched, Jobs didn't even want there to be an app store. He wanted all apps to be created via the web. Incredibly short-sighted for some of his intelligence, but fact is he had an hardware obsessed mind and much of that contributed to Apple's early failures.
 

BlackTron

Member
In house it is full ress streaming it’s insane

Weird flex. Because what makes an expensive Apple product "insane" is the ability to achieve parity with Geforce Now. Which can do the exact same thing with any old crap piece of hardware you already have. Thanks for gaming paradise, Apple.
 

Topher

Gold Member
This is where people seem confused. Apple doesn't have to become THE premier place for gamers. They just have to offer a competitive alternative to what is already out there. Some of you guys laugh but you better hope MS is paying attention. They do not want a beast like Apple invading the PC gaming space on a competitive level. The day it happens is the day I say goodbye to Windows PC.

Seems like Microsoft is taking Windows for granted outside of a platform for implementing AI bots.
 

Beechos

Member
There is a lot more people that have Mac’s and iPhones than consoles though. Why is that so hard to comprehend?
You're the one who is saying when Apple gets into gaming you will jump ship from windows to mac. I was making the argument why would you? I'd be like going from pc back to console at that point.
 

StereoVsn

Member
“Now, every Mac that ships with Apple silicon can play AAA games pretty fantastically."

Disagree Season 3 GIF by The Lonely Island
Yeah, I recently bought MBP M3 Pro for non gaming endeavors. I have tried some games on it, and while certain ones do work (haven’t tried non Mac games yet through 3rd party software), let’s just say price/performance ratio is iffy.

I didn’t get top of the line M3 Max or anything, but even the base “Pro” chip with 12 CPU / 18 GPU cores ran stupid amount of money if you are mostly looking at gaming. I could easily get a nice RTX4080 gaming laptop for that cash and that will clobber Mac for performance (while on battery).

Mind you for my needs MBP is amazing, and that battery life for the form factor is crazy, but for gaming … not so much.

I can play BG3 and Paradox games on it with performance of maybe a 4060 give or take.
 
Last edited:

Topher

Gold Member
Yeah, I recently bought MBP M3 Pro for non gaming endeavors. Trying some games on it and certain ones work (haven’t tried non Mac games yet through 3rd party software), but let’s just say price/performance ratio is iffy.

I didn’t get too of the line M3 Max or anything but even the base “Pro” chip with 12 CPU / 18 GPU cores ran stupid amount of money if you are most looking at gaming. Could get a nice 4080 laptop for that.

Mind you for my needs MBP is amazing and that battery life for the form factor is crazy, but for gaming … not so much.

I can play BG3 and Paradox games on it with performance of maybe a 4060 give or take.

That's in line with the results I've seen elsewhere. I mean.....it is great that Mac's are getting more options for gaming. I've been an off/on Mac user going back to when they first moved to Intel from PowerPC and mainstream gaming has largely been absent outside of the Aspyr ports and such. So this is a move in the right direction, but folks gotta keep their expectations in check and this shouldn't be overstated by Apple, even their marketing guys.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
You're the one who is saying when Apple gets into gaming you will jump ship from windows to mac. I was making the argument why would you? I'd be like going from pc back to console at that point.
I’ve never said such a thing. 😂🤣
 
Holy crap… you scared? 🤣

But seriously, what does it matter? What if apple succeeds at bringing consoles games to all apple products? Does that make pc useless?of course not.. it just gives people another option and makes iPhones and mac books that much more useful. If you already have an iPhone or MacBook then might not need anything else to play the few games you want. options are good.
Not sure where you read "CONSOLE WARS!!111" in my post but it really wasn't there.

I'm a Mac user, a PC user, a console user, an ex-game dev etc.

No adolescent allegiances here bro.

Just calling out what I see based on the OPs conjecture that I don't subscribe to.

If Apple succeed here then awesome! Grow the pie!

I just don't see it for the (fairly detailed) reasons stated.
 
Apple is at least 10 years behind the leading platform owners as Nintendo, Sony and Xbox in therms of providing the tools for the game devs.
In other hand - they are rich, so probably they will catch up in 5 years.
 
Top Bottom