How to Play COD Modern Warfare 2 on Mac: M1 and Intel Guide

Not to be confused with the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was released 13 years ago, this Modern Warfare II is the sequel to the 2019 reboot of the series. This is the nineteenth installment in the Call of Duty franchise and features a lot of the same core gameplay and mechanics as the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0.

Unfortunately, Modern Warfare 2 is not officially supported on macOS. To play it on Mac, you’ll need to resort to third-party tools such as Bootcamp or Streaming. 

In this post, we’ll teach you how you can run the new Modern Warfare 2 on a Mac, including Intel and Apple Silicon models.

Can you play Modern Warfare 2 on Mac?

Despite not officially supporting macOS, Modern Warfare 2 can be played on Mac thanks to third-party tools: Streaming for Apple Silicon M1 Macs and Bootcamp on Intel Macs.

Some Windows-exclusive games can run quite well through Virtualization software, but as soon as a game requires Window’s DirectX12.0 graphics API, it becomes much more complicated to run on macOS. At the time of this writing, neither Parallels nor CrossOver support DirectX12.0 yet.

And to make matters worst, Modern Warfare 2 uses an aggressive Anti-cheat system, which complicates things furthermore.

If you have an Intel Mac, you can still run Modern Warfare 2 through Bootcamp. If you have a newer M1 or M2 Mac, however, the only way you can run Warzone 2 is via a streaming service, which is our least favorite method to run a Windows game on Mac and is usually our last resort… We cover both methods in detail below.

Is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ever coming to Mac?

Featuring a globe-trotting single-player campaign, Multiplayer, and a co-op Special Ops experience, Modern Warfare 2 promises to take the COD experience to a whole new level. According to the game’s description on Steam:

Infinity Ward brings fans state-of-the-art gameplay, with all-new gun handling, advanced AI system, a new Gunsmith and a suite of other gameplay and graphical innovations that elevate the franchise to new heights.

Given the poor track record of Call of Duty games on Mac, it is highly unlikely that Modern Warfare 2 will be released on macOS anytime soon. The last COD game to feature a native macOS version was Black Ops 3, which was released many years ago. Porting company Aspyr used to have a great relationship with Activision and the teams behind COD games, but it seems that either priorities shifted or relationships soured because Call of Duty for Mac support is not what it used to be anymore…

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 “Mac” requirements

Unless you go with a streaming solution, system requirements remain critical. Especially for a demanding game such as Modern Warfare 2. You won’t be able to find official Warzone 2 Mac requirements, but if you’re thinking about using Boot Camp, the game’s Windows requirements are still applicable:

How to play Modern Warfare 2 on Mac

While we prefer to run our games natively, some games are so good we are willing to boot Windows to play them. Valorant, PUBG, and even Overwatch 2 come to mind, but Modern Warfare 2 is definitely one of those games too.

But what is the best way to run Modern Warfare 2 on Mac using Windows? There are several methods to play Windows games on Mac, each with its advantages and drawbacks:

Just be aware that some of these methods won’t work on all games…

Modern Warfare 2 on Intel Macs: Bootcamp

When it comes to running Windows games on Mac, performance and cost are the main drivers. For that reason, I prefer Boot Camp. Boot Camp is a free utility that allows you to install and run Windows on your Mac in the same way you would on any other computer: natively. But be aware that Boot Camp is currently unavailable for M1 Macs.

How to set it up? Installing Windows using Boot Camp is straightforward. You just need to open the Boot Camp application in your “Utilities” folder and follow the assistant. You can also check Apple’s support page for FAQs and guides on how to install and use Boot Camp.

Bottom line: If you absolutely want to play Modern Warfare 2 on an Intel Mac, you’ll want to use Boot Camp.

Warzone 2 on M1 and M2 Macs

Unfortunately, neither Parallels nor CrossOver can run Modern Warfare 2 on an Apple Silicon Mac. This is due to the usage of DirectX12 (unsupported on both Parallels and CrossOver) and the aggressive anti-cheat system that flags third-party apps as potential threats.

Perhaps a future update will solve this (we know CrossOver is working on it), but for now, the only way you can play it is by using a streaming service. While we stay away from streaming services (because the experience is more expensive and is not as pleasant as simply running the game locally), they do work.

As of right now, the game can be streamed on the following services only:

• Shadow
• airgpu

Best Mac games like Modern Warfare 2

We’ve covered the best FPS games for Mac before, but if I had to recommend a few, these are our favorites:

Game	★ Best Overall	Runner-Up	Best Value
	Borderlands 2	Metro: Exodus	Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
Genre	Co-op	Survival Horror	Competitive
Release date	2012	2021	2015
Metascore	89	82	81
Our rating	★★★★★ Full Review	★★★★☆ Full review	★★★★☆
Requirements	✅ Not Demanding	⚠️ Demanding	✅ Not Demanding
Check Price	Humble Bundle	Check Price	Steam