Apple Gaming is Still a Joke

Every time Apple gets up and talks up gaming at one of their press events or WWDC conferences, it feels like that classic Charlie Brown moment:

One or two big name publishers talk up how proud they are to be bringing a recent game they've published to the Mac. Trailers are shown. Demos carefully played. And we all think "Maybe this is the year gaming will finally come to the Mac?"

This is the second review I see in the Mac App Store for this year's big game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, that was released in early 2025. It doesn't give me a lot of hope for gaming on the Mac:

It should be embarrassing for Tim Cook and Apple how the r/macgaming subreddit is full of people just trying to get games to run on a Mac. Not which game is best. Not how much fun they're having playing with friends. Not video captures or screenshots of cool moments. Just nerds trying to hack their $2K+ computer to run a game, even if it's at the lowest possible graphics settings.

Still No Fortnite

One of the more popular games with my kids is Fortnite. It used to run natively on Mac hardware without a hitch, but now isn't able to be bought or installed for macOS because of a fight between Tim Cook (CEO of Apple) and Tim Sweeney (CEO of Epic Games, publisher of Fortnite) over iOS App Store rules and pricing. Much like a kid caught in a messy divorce, I don't care why Tim hates Tim so much, I just want to play a game with my kids.

The Epic Games Store app itself runs fine on macOS, with a bunch of games available to buy—just not Fortnite. Apparently it's being held ransom in the divorce proceedings. This week I emailed both the Tims to try to broker a peace treaty between the two companies. I wouldn't hold your breath. 😆

Cloud Gaming Options

For Mac users, there is hope in the ever improving options coming from services like Xbox Cloud Gaming or GeForce Now which allow you to pay a monthly fee to be able to play popular PC games in the browser. Basically you're streaming the game from a server remotely. It's fascinating technology, but still not the same—yet?—as playing it on a console or computer in your home, particularly for games like Fortnite with a lot of quick action happening.

Interestingly, I noticed when I searched for "Xbox cloud gaming" on Google, their sponsored ad at the top specifically mentions the ability to "Play Fortnite Via Cloud Gaming", even though I didn't mention Fortnite in my search:

CrossOver or Parallels Options

Both CrossOver and Parallels allow you to run Windows software on your Mac, to varying degrees. The general consensus seems to be that games run better on CrossOver, regular apps for productivity run better on Parallels. But your mileage may vary depending on the software and hardware you have.

Either way, it's an extra $100+ to be able to run a game that you already likely paid $70-$100 for on Mac hardware that's supposed to be the most advanced computing platform.

Just Buy Another Console

In our—very first world of first world problems—household we've got an Xbox X, a Switch, a Quest 2, a M1 Mac mini, and my M2 Max Mac Studio in my office. With 4 people who sometimes like to game together, it's frustrating that we can't use any of the Mac hardware to join in on a game of Fortnite or other co-op games.

The simplest and cheapest option is to buy a Xbox S console (~$379CAD) to be able to play most games. The next best option is picking up a cheaper gaming PC for $800-$1,200CAD which would run most every game available now.

As friends in the Discord communities I'm a part of know, I've been waffling on buying a gaming PC for years. I'm just reluctant to get back on that money hole of a treadmill, even though I know it would be a lot of fun.

Maybe a Switch 2?

The next best option is to wait for one of my kids to buy their own hardware. Which will likely happen sooner than me buying any more hardware.

But c'mon Tims! I'd really love to just click Fortnite on my Mac Studio's dock and join a game with friends.