mishmash

The usual online chatter about an Apple console, buying Square Enix or Unity, GTA VI like ever being on a Mac, has died down and reality reasserted itself now that WWDC25 has broadcasted. Okay, there’s still talk about GTA VI. Maybe Mac will get an AI port in 2037.

In brief I would say the reality for Mac gaming is slow progress, but hopefully solid progress. We’ll see. Here’s a basic breakdown of the event news alongside some recent related announcements. Game names at the bottom if you want to skip my yapping.

macOS 26 Tahoe is arriving around September time. On the developer side it will bring Game Porting Toolkit 3 and Metal 4. On the player side there will be the new Games app. Based on the info from the iOS and macOS presentations, we know it will have a personal games library connected to purchases and downloads from the App Store.

There will be some kind of in app discovery queue to suggest games, most likely based on the games library and user activity. Speaking as someone who spends time looking at new releases and promoting them online, I doubt this will really cut it. The Mac App Store needs an overhaul to bring the games section inline with stores like Steam, where self guided discovery is far easier for players, and thus greatly benefits developers trying to reach an audience. This is a good opportunity to plug the mishmash Steam curator page.

The social parts of the app have potential. Game devs can set up specific challenges that players can compete over with friends. As well as more general leaderboards. This reminds me of a similar feature in Antstream that I’ve really enjoyed. I suspect we will see these features mostly used by games in Apple Arcade and smaller smartphone score chaser games. Hopefully other devs will embrace it. I noted that the game used in the presentation examples was Thronefall. Nice choice.

A mysterious webpage has appeared on Apple’s site with nothing but an app icon. Not sure what will be there. I doubt there is much more to the app (please prove me wrong). If implemented well the Games app will be a decent step in the direction of making the sidelined Game Center ideas (achievements and friend lists) actually work and expand it a little.

The little big news from last week was Apple acquiring it’s first games studio. The very small two person team of RAC7, best known for the successful Apple Arcade game Sneaky Sasquatch. If there are devs that will exploit the new Games app to the fullest, I’m expecting it to be them.

There was understandable disappointment that Apple’s first studio purchase wasn’t Capcom or something equally brazen. However, I think RAC7 makes far more sense. Apple needs devs well versed in developing primarily for Apple platforms. They also need to be sustainable by the sales made on Apple platforms. Buying a Ubisoft sized company would almost certainly mean having to develop for Windows in order to sustain profitability, which is an unnecessary distraction when trying to build an Apple gaming ecosystem.

RAC7 is a solid foundation with a popular IP and the closest thing Apple has to a gaming mascot in the titular bigfoot. It may not be the most compelling character but Nintendo does fine using a short guy with a big nose and moustache. Sometimes these things grow organically. Regardless, if we’re talking mascots, Arcade has one of the best Sonic games in recent times anyway.

It will be interesting to see where the RAC7 purchase leads. Will the studio increase in size? What other games could they produce? Will they work with other devs bringing games to Mac and iOS? Or play a part in the overall gaming strategy at Apple? Or end up being a nothing burger?

Onto the games. Apple highlighted a bunch of stuff coming presumably in the next year or so. There are also some noticeably delayed games from previous announcements, such as Dead Island 2 and Cyberpunk 2077.

To my mind the most exciting new upcoming games are action adventure Crimson Desert and survival horror Cronos: The New Dawn. Both scheduled for a 2025 release with a chance of being day-one on Mac. Of the other unreleased games coming in 2025, the next two of interest and with day-one potential are farming life sim Starsand Island and looter shooter Escape from Duckov. The last of the unreleased games mentioned is Architect: Land of Exiles – an upcoming MMORPG with minimal information online.

With these unreleased games I’m not seeing macOS mentioned on any steam pages, which makes me wonder if some or all will only be available on the Mac App Store. And whether that could be an increasing trend? This is total speculation on my part as they may simply add Mac details later or not be day-one releases for Mac. Just a thought.

The makers of Eve Online have a new sci-fi MMO Eve Frontier entering early access. NTE Neverness to Everness is an anime styled free to play supernatural open-world RPG, currently in closed beta. Also in early access is inZOI, a Sims-like life sim game. inZOI is expected on August 20th, whereas it’s unclear when Mac support for the others will come.

Finally there are some new port announcements. Mystery puzzle game Blue Prince (2025), the story rich game Harold Halibut (2024), action RPG Cat Quest III (2024). Somewhat older is tactical third person shooter Sniper Elite 5 (2022). The fourth game was well received so hopefully this will be good. Also older but popular is the stealth game HITMAN World of Assassination (2022).

All in all a pretty good line up. I’ve added some info to the mishmash upcoming games page. It’s good to see that the majority of these ports will probably be under two years old when they land. With the hope of some day-one releases. On the down side there is still a limited amount of big name games coming through. Resident Evil 9 and Death Stranding 2 may or may not be coming in future. Either way there is a clamour for more AAA type games day-one. The only real question is whether there is a big enough Mac gamer user base with the right specs to support more of those releases. I suspect we will continue to see a lengthy period of testing the waters and focusing on AA and indie to reach the widest audience and mitigate risks. Like I said at the start. Slow progress but hopefully solid progress.