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> "no AAA gaming" This is, arguably, a disadvantage of any Mac. But Apple Silicon may actually improve the situation over time, as having the same GPUs and AP

> "no AAA gaming" This is, arguably, a disadvantage of any Mac. But Apple Silicon may actually improve the situation over time, as having the same GPUs and APIs on Macs and iOS devices means there is now a much bigger market for game developers to target with the same codebase.

moondev 6y ago
It's more about losing the ability to boot into windows to game there, as well as losing egpu support.
lucasverra 6y ago
That and streaming direct to the browser
ralfd 6y ago
I agree. It is not without danger, the same as with Apps actually, that developers target only the iPad (touch interface) and don't care about optimizing for the Mac experience. But on the whole I am optimistic.
- theshrike79 6y ago
  Apple has had support for game pads for a while now. This will just make it more viable. The only issue might be multi-touch based games on M1
Mindwipe 6y ago
> But Apple Silicon may actually improve the situation over time, as having the same GPUs and APIs on Macs and iOS devices means there is now a much bigger market for game developers to target with the same codebase. Not really. The business models for desktop gaming are completely different to mobile devices, and there is no meaningful common market. I think people will actually be surprised at how few games from iOS will even run on an ARM Mac because developers will block them. It used to be possible to do some gaming on a Mac - the vast, vast majority of Steam users have graphics hardware of a level that was perfectly achievable on a Mac, especially with an eGPU. The end of x86 is the end of that market, forever.
- mthoms 6y ago
  Why would developers "block" their iOS games from running on ARM Macs?
  - Mindwipe 6y ago
    1) Macs are harder to consider secure, they're effectively all jailbroken. Cheating/bypassing in app purchases will be rampant, reducing the opportunity for cross play, and the Mac market isn't big enough itself. These aren't insurmountable issues, but they require investment, and the additional Mac market probably isn't worth the outlay and risk. 2) You have to rebuild the UI, which costs money which the Mac version may well not recoup. 3) You have a different version for desktops that costs more upfront with less reliance on in-app mechanics that you don't want to undermine.
    - Reason077 6y ago
      > "Macs are harder to consider secure, they're effectively all jailbroken." OK, but that's no different to Windows and Android. > "You have to rebuild the UI" No. Even with apps this is no longer the case (see: "Mac Catalyst"), but it's certainly not true for games. Maybe you'd need to add some keyboard/mouse bindings, but that's about it. Even iPads support keyboards and mice now days!
      - Hammershaft 6y ago
        So if an ios title uses a multi touch gesture how do you replicate that on MacOS?
        mamon 6y ago
        You can do those multitouch gestures on TouchBar /s
        jonnytran 6y ago
        Every MacBook has a multitouch trackpad. It's rare that I ever use a mouse.
larrywright 6y ago
And don’t forget that all of the iPad/iPhone games will work on these laptops. That’s not quite the same thing as having major PC titles, but it’s not nothing either.

moondev 6y ago

It's more about losing the ability to boot into windows to game there, as well as losing egpu support.

lucasverra 6y ago

That and streaming direct to the browser

ralfd 6y ago

I agree. It is not without danger, the same as with Apps actually, that developers target only the iPad (touch interface) and don't care about optimizing for the Mac experience. But on the whole I am optimistic.

theshrike79 6y ago
Apple has had support for game pads for a while now. This will just make it more viable. The only issue might be multi-touch based games on M1

Mindwipe 6y ago

> But Apple Silicon may actually improve the situation over time, as having the same GPUs and APIs on Macs and iOS devices means there is now a much bigger market for game developers to target with the same codebase. Not really. The business models for desktop gaming are completely different to mobile devices, and there is no meaningful common market. I think people will actually be surprised at how few games from iOS will even run on an ARM Mac because developers will block them. It used to be possible to do some gaming on a Mac - the vast, vast majority of Steam users have graphics hardware of a level that was perfectly achievable on a Mac, especially with an eGPU. The end of x86 is the end of that market, forever.

mthoms 6y ago
Why would developers "block" their iOS games from running on ARM Macs?
- Mindwipe 6y ago
  1) Macs are harder to consider secure, they're effectively all jailbroken. Cheating/bypassing in app purchases will be rampant, reducing the opportunity for cross play, and the Mac market isn't big enough itself. These aren't insurmountable issues, but they require investment, and the additional Mac market probably isn't worth the outlay and risk. 2) You have to rebuild the UI, which costs money which the Mac version may well not recoup. 3) You have a different version for desktops that costs more upfront with less reliance on in-app mechanics that you don't want to undermine.
  - Reason077 6y ago
    > "Macs are harder to consider secure, they're effectively all jailbroken." OK, but that's no different to Windows and Android. > "You have to rebuild the UI" No. Even with apps this is no longer the case (see: "Mac Catalyst"), but it's certainly not true for games. Maybe you'd need to add some keyboard/mouse bindings, but that's about it. Even iPads support keyboards and mice now days!
    - Hammershaft 6y ago
      So if an ios title uses a multi touch gesture how do you replicate that on MacOS?
      - mamon 6y ago
        You can do those multitouch gestures on TouchBar /s
      - jonnytran 6y ago
        Every MacBook has a multitouch trackpad. It's rare that I ever use a mouse.

larrywright 6y ago

And don’t forget that all of the iPad/iPhone games will work on these laptops. That’s not quite the same thing as having major PC titles, but it’s not nothing either.