• MurrayL@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    No, there’s no way to easily install Windows on Apple Silicon like back in the days of Bootcamp on Intel. If there’s no native macOS version of a game, you have to use translation layers like you would on Linux - either Wine or Apple’s own Game Porting Toolkit.

    There’s also no support for 32-bit apps any more, so many older games with native macOS releases don’t work anymore either.

    That said, when I looked through my Steam & GOG libraries on Mac I was surprised at how many games do apparently run natively. Far more than I expected. But it’s just a curiosity really - if I want to play a game I’ll use my PC.

    • [object Object]@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      how many games do apparently run natively

      From what I understand, indie devs mostly just check a box in their engine’s build script to compile the game for MacOS. It’s rather the big boys who always have trouble porting their games anywhere due to bespoke engines, anticheat or whatnot. And also sim racing devs for some reason, those never support anything but Windows — even though Feral has ported F1 games to Mac and they worked fine.

      • MurrayL@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        Very few things in game dev are as simple as checking a box in the engine, unfortunately.

        To distribute a macOS game on Steam I believe the app needs to be signed and notarised, which requires several extra steps and a (paid) Apple Developer account. It’s one reason why many devs simply don’t bother supporting the platform.

        • [object Object]@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          Sure, but the developer account costs about two and a half Doordash pizzas (which every USian orders every day for some unfathomable reason, judging by the incessant complaining on Reddit), and to my understanding signing can be automated.