The State of Mac gaming
Go to any technology forum and ask a question involving Gaming and the Mac Platform. I bet you someone will mock you within the first 3 answers! Life is hard for the common mac gamer. You would imagine the situation has improved over time. After all, more and more AAA games are being ported to the mac right? The sad reality is that Mac games are still considered as a joke for many and they will try to convince you that a joke it shall remain. I decided to look more closely into the situation and figure out whether they actually had a point, or they were just being unreasonable fan boys. 
Is Mac gaming really a joke? it it getting better? If so, how can we tell?
Company of Heroes: One of the finest RTS games available came to the Mac this year only
The test
If we want to be smarter than the fanboys, we need to rely on a system. This can be a little tricky when talking about gaming and games. What defines whether a gaming platform is good or bad? Is the Xbox 360a good platform? What about the PS3? I had to make a choice, so I decided to keep it simple and consider the number of “good” games released on the mac per year since 2007. After all, a good platform is a platform that offers plenty of good games right?
But, how to define what a top game is you ask? Well, I had to make an arbitrary decision: it is a game with a Metascore higher than 81!
Metascores take into account tenths of reviews from all around the internet to create average reviews. This will have to do it for this exercise.
For a more detailed explanation of what a Metascore is:
Metascores are given by Metacritics.com, whom carefully curate a large group of the world’s most respected critics, assign scores to their reviews, and apply an average to summarize the range of their opinions. The result is a single number that captures the essence of critical opinion in one Metascore.
The results
Enough talk, what do the figures say?
The Take away
For the sake of clarity, I have mainly focused on the numbers: How many good games can you play natively on the Mac?
As pointed out by a few fellow mac gamer, numbers aren’t everything. There’s also price points, performance and the lack of strong communities in specific games. I have no intention of discussing it all here. In this post, I will focus on the collection of Mac games available.
So, what is the truth about mac gaming?
Mac gaming future is bright
Well, Mac haters have been right for a long time BUT things are changing quickly! Yes, PC gamers still get more good games per year, but the Mac is catching up.
The figures speak for themselves: in the first graph, we can see how every year more good games are being released on the Mac with an historical 2012 year where as many good games were released on both PC and the Mac.
The Mac platform is gaining momentum, with more developers paying attention to it and bringing their best games to the Mac. A perfect example of this is Borderlands 2, a Triple A game released on the Mac only two months after the PC release!
This matches the conclusions of my very first article,Mac Gaming: The mac platform has never been stronger! After all, 2012 is mac gaming’s best year yet!
However, the first graph doesn’t tell the whole story.
Steam definitely was one of those leading the way for Mac gaming
Mac gaming is still a long way from PC gaming
There is a reason why so many good games were released on the Mac in 2012: Mac Gaming is late, with games released years ago on the PC only being ported to the Mac in 2012. A perfect example is Company of Heroes. I will never complain I finally have this game on the Mac (I love it!), yet it needed 7 years to make the jump from the PC to the Mac…
The second graph highlights one of Mac Gaming’s biggest issues: Late release dates!
If we only consider top games released on PC and Mac the same year, than Mac figures plummet. The huge number of games released in 2012 (Graph 3) are for the most part, games released years before on PC.
What does it all mean to you mac gamer?
I still believe the future is bright for Mac gaming. Yes, a lot of lost ground needs to be recovered. But at the end of the day, more and more great games are coming to the Mac, giving us more and more choices on what to play in our favorite all-around platform!
We will not get to play the latest and greatest as soon as they are released elsewhere, but hey, by now we have learned to be patient!
I have no problem waiting if I can play some Company of Heroes, Borderlands 2 or Civilizations 5 in the meantime…. 
Do you believe Mac gaming is indeed getting stronger each year? Do you use your Mac as your main gaming platform? I answer to all the comments!
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Great bit of research here, but I don’t know if it tells the whole story. There’s a case to be made that games like deus ex hr only ever get to the mac because they are so successful on other platforms.
I’d be interested to see this comparison made only with games that release simultaneously with Windows.
Interesting that you point out that Windows gamers love to hate mac gamers; console gamers love to hate windows gamers. We’ll always be the underdog!
Hey Ninja Foodsuff, interesting comment! I can only agree with you here, the release dates between Mac and PC are very important and yet, I don’t emphasise on it enough on this analysis. I’m working a some further conclusions to make this whole article the more objective possible.
Thanks for the comment and I’ll see you around!
Interesting all around. Though Borderlands 2 was released *two* months after the PC version, not one.
I’m a Mac and PC gamer (via Bootcamp since day one) but I do hate console gamers
To Me its not about being a (insert platform) gamer, but a gamer. Gamers these days tend to have multiple platforms because there is so many.
But it is nonetheless fun to be a single platform user and bash the others guys
Thanks for the comment Jon! You are right and I have already edited the article on my Borderlands 2 comment
I have to agree with you, most gamers play and several platforms, I play also on PC and xbox… But I guess we all like to act like fanboys every now and then
Do you play a lot on the mac? What’s your main platform?
Yes, Mac is my main platform. I’m Wumpus over at the IMG forums, have made some comments in your thread there. But I play a lot of games in bootcamp, the one’s that never make it to Mac like Mass Effect series (previously the Witcher games) a lot of the Warhammer RTS’s and some shooters or MOBA stuff like Dota 2. I find less and less time to reboot however as more great games are released for the Mac.
Indeed, of course I recognise you! I have turned to mac gaming for pretty much the same reasons. I use to play mostly on consoles but got tired of not having all the choices available (good strategy games for example) so turned back to playing on windows using bootcamp.
As I get older, it’s more and more of a pain to boot into windows just to play, especially with so many choices available on mac now!
Thanks for commenting! I’ll see you around!
Since I’m coming from a gamer PC and just bought a 15″ retina macbook pro, this article confirms I’ve made the good choice. I’m 36 years old, and was a gamer since games existed, and gamed on all platforms I could use.
I felt it was time for me to stop the neverending gamer rig escalation, and wanted somthing more portable since I also do a lot of photography.
You see where I am heading, right ? Even if my decision was a wise one as a grown up person, I still felt uncomfortable about loosing the ability to play games like skyrim, crysis, and such.
With these stats, I’m now confident this trend to release mac games will continue, at least until Apple decides to completely wipe our hopes by dropping Intel, if this ever occurs.
Now my last concern would be about peripherals: man, it’s such a pain to find a suitable mouse that works flawlessy under both OSX and a bootcamped windows. Moutain Lion created such a mess with the drivers, and the mice manufacturers don’t seem (yet) to be in a hurry to adapt their products to the mac line.
By the way, would you guy(s) care to review compatible peripherals such as mice, pads, headsets,… well, everything a gamer might have a use of ?
Hey Dredd67, thanks for the comment!
I’m taking note of your comments here, I haven’t had the chance to review hardware yet (this site is still pretty young) but I have planned on doing soon…. Right now, I would recommend a wired Xbox 360 controller if you have one lying around, works well with a free driver (from TattieBogle).
Anyway, welcome to the mac platform, indeed times are getting better for us gamers! But we are still behind, specially regarding release dates…. I will include this in this article to give everyone the full picture.
Hope to see you around!
I’ve been meaning to get into hardware reviews, I have a few useful things in terms of a headset and a good mouse and trackball.
If you’re up for it, we could write a piece based on your review (of course I know you have other places you could use to get the word out if you wanted to write something
Very good article, nice to have some data to back up the arguments.
Thanks for the comment Dregon! I’m the first to admit that I don’t talk about everything, and there’s more to mac gaming than the number of games available. I did try to focus on one thing and go all the way (the library)
I’d be up for some kind of colloboration or sharing, would be fun. I’m swamped with reviews and previews this week, so I won’t be able to get to it. Perhaps on the weekend or next week.
Would be definitely cool, let me know what you have on your mind and we’ill find the time! Cheers
Great article! I don’t think Mac gaming will ever match PC gaming but it’s currently better than it’s ever been and there’s more than enough titles coming out – at least enough to keep me satisfied anyways.
Indeed, if you want to play the latest and greatest, you will suffer with mac gaming…. If you can live with that, you can still play some of the best games available no problem. I guess we just need to remember how far we’ve come
Very good article, congratulations. I agree 100%.
Thanks for the kind words ikirikir! Always glad to see someone else like what I’m trying to do here!
It seems Mac gaming in general took a huge shift when Apple adopted Intel processors, but they really need to focus on their graphics engine. OpenGL is good, but it’s still not as powerful as DirectX. My Windows PC friends always bashed my Mac gaming back in the day of Diablo 1 and StarCraft 1. Of course, I came to realize that Windows PCs were made for gaming. I just wish Apple would pay more attention to the gaming community. I would have thought by now, Macs would be on par with Windows PCs when it comes to gaming, but they still lag behind. And I’ve been a Mac user ever since the LC. I think bootcamp is a fantastic alternative, but again, it doesn’t solve the problem. And booting into a second operating system just to play a game is ridiculous. Macs should be able to handle it, but Apple needs to step up and start catering the gaming community.
I’m hoping the new Mac Pro coming out early next year will offer some intriguing options. Apple kind of has a hole in their product lineup where they need to introduce a fully-upgradable and customizable machine at an affordable price. That way gamers could install there own graphics cards, RAM, hard drives, etc. A bare-bones mini-tower with quality Apple construction would attract a large sector of new customers.
So, if they can get some decent hardware going, that would be a good start. They also need to start working directly with Blizzard and Valve and other top game companies to improve their graphics engine. All I ever heard from Blizzard and Valve was how unreceptive Apple was to working with them on anything. If Apple could fix these issues, Macs would be a force to be reckoned with in the gaming community. And maybe with Tim Cook in charge, we might start to see some change. I guess I’m still optimistic about it, but the Mac gaming community growth has been crawling along at a glacial pace. And most Mac users just give up and opt for bootcamp. It shouldn’t have to be that way.
Thanks for the comment Iomek! You just set the record for longest/detailed post here @ macgamerhq!
I really enjoyed your comment here, makes me think about possible subjects to investigate in a near future (like the relationship between developers and Apple or the possibilities of having better graphics support with a future Mac Pro release)…
However, I don’t think Apple will ever release a cheaper Mac tower, but I do agree that would be GREAT for mac gaming… Hope I’m wrong though!
Cheers!
Sorry, I’m kind of a frustrated Mac gamer…have been for many years now. I eventually just stopped trying in college from 2003-2007. But when StarCraft II and Diablo III came out, I thought I’d give it another go, just to find out that beyond Intel hardware and lightly better graphics cards, things haven’t changed much. I’m actually considering just building my own hackintosh and or PC. Apple is missing out on a huge market.
I just love the UI of OS X over Windows though. I know Windows users always say the opposite, but OS X is just easier to navigate. And it’s much more manageable. Windows is a graphic designer’s nightmare. I don’t mind playing games on it, but I could do without using it for anything else. I wonder if Apple could ever use DirectX instead of OpenGL.
I actually have a macbook and a hackintosh and the hackintosh is my main machine! They work great, if you are confortable with some light tinkering, I absolutely recommend them!
I actually started as a console gamer until I ended up spending so much time using my mac that I didn’t to leave it anymore, not even for gaming
I guess we need better graphic drivers and better OpenGL support to go to the next level….
I was a console gamer at first too! It was mostly Sega and Nintendo or N64 until I learned about Windows PC gaming from a good friend of mine. My bro has a PS3 and is obsessed, but I stopped playing consoles after Sega, PS1, and Wii.
I can do light tinkering: upgrading hard drives, ram, etc, so I think I might be able to figure it out. I hear you have to be careful about the parts you choose though, because some don’t play well with OS X.
I feel the exact same way about my Mac…I seriously don’t want to even launch Windows for anything. And really, we shouldn’t have to, should we? It seems silly to devote 100GB or more to a Windows partition and have to dual boot just to play a game. Here’s hoping that Tim Cook takes Apple in a different direction.
Apple Mac support has just been confirmed for the remake of the classic space adventure game ‘Elite’. Less than 24 hours left on KickStarter to support development and pre-order your copy (at time of writing).
Looks that they got pretty good results! Happy to see another game coming to the Mac!
I’m a gamer who plays allot of different platforms. I’ve been a PC gamer and a Console gamer and just recently a Mac gamer.
While we’ve got Steam on Mac and also the App store I think Dev’s need to look harder, simply because normal rules don’t apply. Gaming on a Mac wont be driven by hardware like on PC but by software, companies need to make great ports and also first party titles and do them well. Mac gamers are probably a more obtuse gamer and will not have just any old buggy and crash riddled software running on their shiny machines and I think this scares allot of dev’s as sales opportunities are not what they might seem.
They can put out horrid software for PC (and now console) and people will whine but just get on with it. I’m not entirely sure Mac gamers will and may shun games that crash every two seconds and until more money is pumped into getting the software done then I don’t think Mac gaming will flourish.
This also goes for really poor ports of games from PC. Take HL2 for example, I’m running a Macbook Pro Retina with the Nvidia 650m graphics 8gb RAM and i7 2.3Ghz processor and still HL nerfs it on heavy scenes and it’s taken me some time to try and adjust the settings to get it to run smoothly. This game is some years old now and powerful hardware still cant run it 60fps with everything full. This isn’t down to hardware but software, drivers and coding of the game.
If Dev’s get this down then the future is great for Mac users, if the push for Software goes south then we may end up living with first class games but second class ports.
Thanks for the comment Martin. I couldn’t agree more with your conclusion. The only way to move forward is to have more and more developers put the resources to develop and optimise games for the mac platform.
However I think they can’t do it alone. They also need Apple’s support to work on OpenGL and make it as attractive as DirectX. I hear developers trying to reach Apple are never listened.
I am working on some interviews with developers. I believe they all see the same challenge: Poor support + weak sales opportunities (because of the small market share of Macs) = Big risks to port their game to the mac…
I agree. I think the main problem here is Apple’s reluctance to work with game developers to improve their graphics engine. I wonder if it’s possible or how hard it would be to adapt DirectX to Mac OS X, because that might make a significant improvement. And it might also be easier for game developers to port games to Macs.
mac gaming will get better, console gaming will get better, Linux gaming will get better and pc gaming will get better. gaming will get better no matter what platform. how can it get worse??? it can only get better or stay the same
That’s a fact Delby and from that angle you are absolutely right. In fact, pretty much everything related to computers and technology can only get better in time (thank you Moore’s law…). However, the point here is to understand the current state of Mac gaming compared to other platforms. After all, when we decide where how want to play our games, we have to chose among the available platforms. Mac gaming will continue catching up with some of the other more “developed platforms”. Therefore, will get better.
Gaming on Macs has improved in recent years, but there are still far too few dedicated Mac porting companies on a par with Feral, who are also relatively small. Hence, even most AAA ports still take way too long; sometimes years. For eg. we’ve still only 2 OS X-native Total War ports, Rome & Empire.
Apple dropping Rosetta also doesn’t help as many older classics like Age of Empires 2, Rise of Nations, Starcraft, etc., now no longer run on modern Macs with OS X Lion or higher. On the latest Windows platforms (W7 & W8), one still finds viable solutions to run such classics, with few exceptions.
Despite the recent improvement, the future of Mac gaming isn’t all that great as long as Microsoft’s development of DirectX & support to gaming companies far excels Apple’s half-hearted support of OpenGL & Mac gaming companies.
I still game on my Mac but, frankly, I’m also increasingly tempted to buy, or build, a gaming PC. Much to consider.
Thank you for the comment! I don’t play “old school” games a lot, I forgot how dropping Rosetta ended up hurting mac gaming too… The more I think about mac gaming, the more I talk to people about this, it seems to me the problem is DirectX vs OpenGL…. If Apple doesn’t do something to tip the scale a little more than today, mac gaming will continue to have a hard time to catch up.
Maybe we should send Tim Cook an open letter?
Maybe a change.org petition or something?
It could be interesting but I’m afraid we would need a huge coordination with all mac and mac gaming related sites in the world to make Apple hear us. Even then, Apple is so huge and successful that they can afford to just do whatever they want :S
Anyway, I take note of the idea. Maybe one day when we have more interactions with other mac / mac gaming sites, we will have enough voices to give it a try…
Agreed. IMO, the DirectX v OpenGL issue, Apple’s relative neglect of the latter, is key for many gamers &, more importantly, developers. Though I can’t imagine anyone buys a Mac for gaming only, paying more for Mac games & the necessary hardware, still rankles many, esp when we often see slower FPS in Mac games compared to PC ones, on the same hardware.
Indeed, “old school” to some, however, unlike an increasing number of newer games, esp on consoles, these strategy games have no-end of replay value. Some, like AoE 2, engendering tighly-knit Mac gaming communities lasting for years, that also branched out favourably into others aspects of Mac gaming. Sadly, much of this will be lost.
Progress is inevitable & older software will die away, but it’s not just the loss of Rosetta support, but Apple’s general attitude to gaming on OS X that disappoints many people.
For eg., if Destineer, who took over all the MacSoft titles, hadn’t updated more recent Intel titles like the AoE 3 series, those too would have been left behind by Lion.
Sadly, it seems Destineer may be no more, so where the next version of OS X leaves many such games is anyone’s guess.
At least Microsoft can’t afford to treat gamers with quite the same disdain as their profit margins are heavily reliant on attaining decent sales of new versions of Windows. Many PC gamers simply wouldn’t upgrade, or downgrade if necessary, if that was to happen.
Re an “open letter” to TC, well, your apt smiley speaks volumes. As we know, TC’s & Apple’s main focus liable to be firmly fixed on expanding Apple’s presence in Asian markets, esp China, much of that no doubt by pushing their mobile devices.
The relative neglect of Mac Pros, supply problems with new iMacs, etc., seen recently, suggests even less focus on gaming-capable Macs in future.
I’ll continue buying certain new Mac games (esp those from companies like the excellent Feral), where available. I do most of my serious work in OS X. However, for me, gaming in Windows remains a viable option. I wish that wan’t so, but sadly Apple’s general attitude to gaming only reinforces that view.
I think the App store and even more so Steam will have a large impact on Mac gaming. In addition, further improvements to OS X to integrate iOS features may mean games developed for iOS can be readily ported or extended to OS X. Lots of developers are on macs now for the iOS app market, the more familiar they are with it the more they will consider developing for Mac OS X. There is also the rise in sales of Mac computers vs. PC’s, while other manufacturers are losing market share, Apple is staying strong or growing. Devs will notice this too.
Apple has for a long time required a decent low-end GPU to be present in all Macs (say since 2008-2009 with nVidia’s 9400m / ION chipset). It was Apple who insisted intel up the performance of their integrated graphics, and continued to sell Core 2 Duo processors with nVidia GPUs long after the initial Core i3-i7 series processors had been released because they didn’t consider intel’s GPU strong enough to switch (until the on die HD3000, which was barely adequate for the low end). It is a trade off as these Mac’s are designed with tight thermal and power constraints, meaning large powerful chips cannot be used until the chip technology has advanced to the point they can shrink them down and run on low power with low heat. This also explains the delay in releasing PC games on the mac some time after initial release. Intel’s commitment to improving graphics is now built into their pipeline of future realises – HD4000 was 25% faster than HD3000, Haswell released later this year will be faster again.
This now means that developers do have confidence in developing a game for a reasonable minimum spec so that even entry level macbooks and mac mini’s can “just work” with their games without disappointment, bad reviews and low sales from frustrated end users. That base level is really important for having a large potential market -smart developers develop for this mass market – e.g. Blizzard games, and Valve’s games run very well and look great on even low end hardware. This is why the future is bright for mac gaming.