Gaming on MacBooks may no longer be a distant dream, thanks to Apple’s latest update to its Game Porting Toolkit. This toolkit, part of the Metal 3 developer suite announced at WWDC 2023, aims to provide game developers with a fast and reliable way to port their games to macOS, the operating system used by Macs and MacBooks.
The announcement of the Game Porting Toolkit was met with excitement, as Apple’s recent hardware, such as the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips found in the MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023) and MacBook Pro 16-inch (2023), has the potential to deliver solid gaming performance. However, the lack of game availability on the macOS platform has hindered gaming on Macs compared to Windows.
The Game Porting Toolkit, including tools to run Windows games in an emulation environment, simplifies the process of porting games to macOS. Similar to Apple’s Rosetta 2 tool, which allowed apps built for older Intel-based Macs to run on Apple Silicon without code rewriting, the Game Porting Toolkit provides game developers with insights into how well their games will perform on Mac hardware before the need for full porting.
With the release of version 0.2 of the Game Porting Toolkit, significant performance improvements have been achieved for certain games. Elden Ring shows a 20% improvement on the M1 Max, and Cyberpunk 2077 sees doubled framerates on the M2 Ultra. These games previously had no native Mac versions, making it impossible for Mac owners to play them.
The availability of the Game Porting Toolkit now allows these games to run on MacBooks and Macs, providing an exciting prospect for gamers. This free update encourages game developers to experiment with the toolkit and gain a better understanding of how their games will perform on Apple hardware.
While the Game Porting Toolkit is not intended for consumer use, it paves the way for easier game development and porting to macOS. Combined with the upcoming Game Mode in macOS 14 Sonoma, this advancement holds the potential to transform MacBooks and Macs into viable gaming devices. By breaking the cycle of games not being available on macOS due to low demand, Apple hopes to create a thriving gaming ecosystem for its users.
