Why Don't They Make More Games For Mac

Posted on
Why Don't They Make More Games For Mac 3,8/5 3048 votes

When macOS Mojave was announced, Apple warned that it would be the last version of macOS that would support older 32-bit apps. Apple has been phasing out 32-bit apps for the last 10 years and is now ready to take the final step, even if Mac users may not be ready to lose access to older apps.


With the release of macOS Catalina, 32-bit app support is no longer available, which means many of your older apps will no longer work if they haven't been updated to 64-bit.


32-bit vs. 64-bit

Creating games on your Mac Macs are great for gaming, but you don't have to play games made by other people. Discover how to create amazing video games on your Mac, and get other people to play them. Mar 20, 2013  Also some other benefits of gaming on PC's is that there are strategy games, and that if you get the higher end setups, they are more powerful than today's gaming consoles. I will stick to my iMac for doing business related tasks, but I would go for a PC for almost any gamer. Feb 07, 2014  GameAgent.com started out as Mac game publisher Aspyr's way of reaching out to its own customers, but since then it's grown into an active Mac gaming service that offers downloads not just of Aspyr games but of other company's products too. They sport deals, favorites and games under $10, to make it easy to find something you might like. Jun 05, 2009  Apple makes a lot of claims. Most of them are bogus. Mac is terrible for games. The OS doesn't support them well. The hardware doesn't support them well. Developers don't support Mac. Btw, Mac doesn't have better graphics.

32-bit apps date back to a time when there were 32-bit processors and 32-bit operating systems, but are now outdated. Apple has long since transitioned to 64-bit processors and macOS has been 64-bit since the launch of Snow Leopard in 2009.

Compared to 32-bit apps, 64-bit apps can take advantage of more memory and offer faster system performance. Apple technologies like Metal only work with 64-bit apps, and for Apple to ensure that Mac apps include all of the latest advancements and optimizations, support for 32-bit needs to end. In the simplest terms, 32-bit apps are inefficient.

Oct 01, 2015  I am currently deciding wether I should buy a mac for game development for the following reasons, its really light so its portable, and I can publish for mac and iOS along with the other platforms currently available. I am currently using a eurocom gaming laptop for game development and gaming but its heavy and takes time to pack up as I got to put away my keyboard and mouse unplug everything. Some computer games never appear on the Mac. Sometimes the game makers don’t think the limited Mac market is worth it. Other games depend so much on Windows-specific technologies that it’s not.

32-bit apps can run on a 64-bit system as they've been doing for years, but Apple wants to get rid of outdated apps to make sure everything that runs on the Mac is properly optimized and isn't an unnecessary drain on system resources.

Previous Warnings

Apple started warning Mac users about plans to end support for 32-bit apps back with macOS High Sierra. In High Sierra, users started getting warnings about a 32-bit app's future incompatibility with macOS.


A similar message was available in macOS Mojave, and if you opened up a 32-bit app while running Mojave, you saw an alert letting you know a specific app wouldn't work with future versions of macOS unless it was updated.

Alerts re-appeared every 30 days when launching an app, with Apple aiming to make sure customers would not be caught unaware when a 32-bit app stopped working in the future, so you should already know if one of your frequently used apps hasn't been upgraded to 64-bit.

Upon updating to ‌macOS Catalina‌, you'll be shown a list of 32-bit apps that no longer work on your system.

How to Check if an App is 32-Bit or 64-Bit in macOS Mojave

To determine whether an app is 64-bit or 32-bit and to see if there are 32-bit apps installed on your machine before upgrading to ‌macOS Catalina‌, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Apple symbol () in the menu bar on your Mac's desktop.
  2. Click on About This Mac.
  3. Choose 'System Report' at the bottom of the window.
  4. Scroll down to the Software list on the sidebar.
  5. Select Legacy Software.'

Anything in the list of Legacy Software applications is a 32-bit app and will not work when upgrading to ‌macOS Catalina‌.

If Legacy Software isn't an option in the sidebar, select the Applications option and then check the list of apps at the right. The column that's labeled 64-bit will show a 'No' listing for apps that are 32-bit.

How to Prepare to Update to ‌macOS Catalina‌

The first step is to make sure there aren't already available updates for apps that you have on your system, which you can generally do by updating through the Mac App Store for ‌Mac App Store‌ apps.

Apps outside of the ‌Mac App Store‌ use other update methods that can vary by app, but for many, you can click on the app's name in the menu bar and choose the 'Check for Updates' option. Some other apps have more hidden update methods, so if you do have a 32-bit app, make sure to Google how to update it to be sure there's not already new software available.

There are emulators you can buy, like Parallels and VMWare Fusion, but these never quite pan out, in my experience, as they always seem to be fraught with issues when connecting peripherals, mice, etc. There’s Boot Camp, which allows you to run a full copy of Windows right on your Intel-based Mac, but it requires a reboot to switch between OS X and Windows environments, which can be tedious. Parallels for mac.

After ensuring you've updated everything you're able to update, you can contact developers and ask them to update their apps, but if that doesn't pan out, the only other solution is to start the search for an alternative app if you're committed to upgrading to ‌macOS Catalina‌ or have already done so.

32-Bit App Warnings When Installing Catalina

When upgrading to ‌macOS Catalina‌, the installer will show a list of recently used apps that are 32-bit so you know what to expect before installing.


After viewing this list, you can choose to either cancel or continue with the installation.

‌macOS Catalina‌ also shows a stop symbol over the icon of 32-bit apps in the Finder, so you know that the app isn't going to open.

Aperture

With the release of ‌macOS Catalina‌, Aperture is going to stop working. Apple warned Aperture users in April 2019 that the software won't run in future versions of macOS, starting with ‌macOS Catalina‌.

If you're an Aperture user, you'll have to transition to alternate photo editing and management software, such as Adobe's Lightroom. Aperture is not 32-bit, but Apple is phasing it out all the same.

Affected Media Formats

Certain media files that use older formats and codecs are also not compatible with macOS after macOS Mojave due to the 64-bit transition, and you will need to convert some iMovie and Final Cut Pro X libraries. Incompatible media files were created using codecs that rely on QuickTime 7, and while macOS Mojave has QuickTime 7 frameworks, future versions of macOS will not.

Apple has a full list of media formats that are going to be affected by the transition available in a support document.

Continuing to Use 32-Bit Apps

In macOS Mojave and earlier versions of macOS like High Sierra, you can continue to use your 32-bit apps. If you have a 32-bit app that you absolutely depend on, you're going to want to think twice before upgrading to ‌macOS Catalina‌.

Guide Feedback

Have questions about the end of support for 32-bit apps or want to offer feedback on this guide? Send us an email here.

Over the past 30 years, it's safe to say that the Macintosh has had a .. complicated .. relationship with gaming. While it's unlikely that the Mac will ever be a premiere gaming system like a console or even like a PC, 2014 brings a certain equilibrium, along with a lot of room for improvement.

A brief history of Mac gaming

Games abounded on the Apple II, which in its day was the most popular computer in the world. Many hobbyist programmers had parlayed their experience writing games into careers, and companies (and fortunes) were founded. But the Macintosh's introduction in 1984 changed things. It was radically different from computers before it.

Why Don

The Mac arrived with pre-made software (including a game called Through the Looking Glass, made by Apple, pictured above). But uncustomary for its time, the Mac without a built-in programming language, which made it a tough sell for hobbyist programmers and others interested in making video games for the nascent system. As programming tools improved, as developers gained skill and as more people bought the Mac, games inevitably followed. But games on the Mac never obtained the critical mass that they did on the burgeoning PC platform. As the Apple II waned, so did Apple's influence in the game development market, and the result was a shift in both industry development and consumer buying habits to PC games.

Mac games have been a sideline business ever since. There have been a few Mac-only and Mac-first developers (Bungie, Halo's creator, famously started on the platform), and a few others that treat the Mac equally with the PC (such as Blizzard). But there's no original high-profile game development on the Mac.

Mac os games wiki

Instead, the Mac game market — outside of the indie scene and the outliers like Blizzard who do do Mac and Windows versions together — is dominated by companies that license popular games from publishers on other platforms, convert the games to run on OS X, and sell those games independently.

Changing distribution

As big box computer retailers like Comp USA slid into irrelevance, changing tastes and a diversified Apple product line also forced game boxes from the shelves of many Apple retail stores. By 2010, commercial Mac game publishing was on life support. But two things happened to change the fortunes of Mac game makers dramatically: Steam and the Mac App Store.

Why Don't They Make More Games For Mac And Cheese

It's the rise of digital distribution that has really revitalized the Mac game scene. Valve's Steam game service, and accompanying development tools released by Valve, have led to a steady stream of commercial and indie game releases on the Mac. Valve also deserves credit for implementing Steam Play, which enables users to buy a game once for one platform and use it elsewhere — so people who have already bought PC versions of games don't need to repurchase them for the Mac.

The Mac certainly isn't on even footing with the PC, but Steam has lowered the barrier to entry for some game developers who didn't have either the programming expertise or the marketing acumen to reach Mac gamers before.

The Mac App Store was another sea change for Mac game publishers. It provided a purchasing and distribution mechanism that millions of Apple product owners were already familiar with — the Apple ID used to make purchases from the iTunes Store and App Store — and applied it instead to Mac apps.

These days, Mac games can be found through an ever-increasingly number of download services, and most game publishers are only too happy to offer up their titles to new services if it means increasing their distribution. The biggest problem many of them have — even Apple and the Mac App Store — is gaining the trust of the customer enough to garner payment details. With all the stories of identity theft, consumers have every reason to be gun-shy about giving out their credit card information online.

Why Don't They Make More Games For Mac Pro

Still, digital distribution has breathed new life into a business that, only a few years ago, was almost totally moribund. Mac game publishers like Aspyr and Feral regularly dominate the Top Ten list of paid game apps on the Mac App Store, and Transgaming often works with leading PC publishers to create Mac versions of games, as well. Both companies see their products sold alongside their PC counterparts on Steam, and have a fairly wide digital distribution network besides.

Changing tastes

It's also worth noting that consumer buying habits have changed. Many more people own Macs now than used to, but they come to the Mac with a different set of expectations than they once did. And gaming is the last thing on many of their minds.

Instead, they're buying Macs to get online, to create files they need for work, to avoid malware, or because they need a computer and they don't want the hassle of dealing with a PC. Games are typically pretty low on their list at all. They may have a game console, or they may find gaming on their tablet or smartphone to be perfectly sufficient.

Overwhelmingly, Mac owners don't self-identify as gamers. It's entrenched behavior for gamers to get systems made for gaming, and for many of them, that means a PC that can run the latest cutting-edge games. Admittedly, PC sales are in the toilet, but that hasn't stopped PC game sales from surging in recent years.

So for the truly game oriented who choose to use Macs, Boot Camp has become a go-to solution to help them get their jones for games that never make it to OS X. Boot Camp lets you run Windows on your Mac natively, and it turns out that Macs are pretty good Windows PCs. In fact, the Windows version of the same game will often run better on Boot Camp than it will on OS X, thanks to differences in the way that graphics drivers and other core system elements are handled.

There's also another big reason why PC gamers stay away from the Mac - the device architecture itself. PC gamers are shade tree mechanics. They love to tweak their systems with upgraded video cards, better CPUs, faster components. That's by and large something you simply can't do on the Mac. And that's something that Apple is unlikely to change, certainly not to fit the needs of a fairly small niche of users.

Will Mac gaming ever achieve critical mass?

There are a few things working against the Mac platform ever achieving parity with PC or console systems — installed base, developer expertise and developer support are among the most prominent.

Despite the surging popularity of the Mac, it still remains a niche. So for many publishers, it simply still doesn't make business sense to divert resources into Mac game development and publishing if it means taking away from a core business selling to PC and console gamers. That's changed, as the sales of Macs have risen, and more and more companies are taking a serious look, but for many, it's still not worth it.

That leaves the prospects of companies like Aspyr, Feral and Transgaming safe — they have years of experience managing Mac conversions, assuming the risk themselves. The downside is that this has often led to a delay in the time between a game's debut on other platforms and its release on the Mac.

Developer expertise is another critical issue. At this point, generations of game developers have grown up playing and making games on PCs (and consoles), while the talent pool for Mac games is a lot smaller. A lot of the same principles apply, and there are a lot of cross-platform 'middleware' tools to simplify the process, but code development is art and science, and it's very easy to make a mediocre or bad Mac app, and much more challenging to make a good one. That's best left to people with experience, and those are still few and far between, especially in the game development world.

To that end, Apple could certainly be doing more to attract game developers. Apple has dedicated developer relations staff, and some of its developer relations people work with game developers, specifically. But there's no uniformly coordinated effort to improve the OS X platform for gaming, as there was years ago at Microsoft when they developed their DirectX API.

Why Don't They Make More Games For Macbook

In the end, perhaps gaming shouldn't have any higher a priority at Apple than anything else — it's hard to argue with the results. They're the most profitable computer company in the world. But speaking as a long-suffering gamer and a Macintosh user, I'd love to see Apple do better here. However, even I have to accept the changing face of gaming. I do less and less of my gaming on a computer and more and more on my mobile devices. And I'm far from alone.

How about you? Do you game on your Mac or do you use something else? Let me know in the comments.

Why Don't They Make More Games For Mac 2

Concepts everywhere

Why Don't They Make More Games For Mac Free

Another day, another iPhone 12 Pro concept. How much would you pay?

Why Don't They Make More Games For Macbook Pro

If reports are accurate we might be waiting a little while longer than normal for iPhone 12 Pro. But would you care if it looked like this?