Assassin ’s Creed Shadowshas launched on Mac , PC and console , and while we gave it something of a miscellaneous grade in our critical review , I recover it a passel more interesting as a Mac gamer than someone else might .
What ’s notable from a Mac gamer ’s position is not only that a genuinely AAA biz has come to the Mac , but also that it has launch on Mac at the same time as Windows . That does n’t happen very often , and Mac gamers are used to wait age before a title makes it to their side of the divide .
This changed coming suggest that Apple’splan to woo game developersis paying dividend . Now this impulse needs to continue .
After all , as we ’ve written before , the problem with gaming on the Mac is not the hardware — it ’s thelack of games . Our recentMac Studio reviewshows that Apple ’s kit can hold its own when it do to gaming performance , but with so many titles ask old age to land on Apple ’s computers ( if they get at all ) , there are often slim pick for Apple fans .
That ’s been improving in recent years , and Assassin ’s Creed Shadows is the latest proof of that . But if we go back a year and bet at Apple ’s Worldwide Developers Conference ( WWDC ) in June 2024 , we can see that there are still several big - name titles that are yet to be found on the Mac .
Big names on the Mac
Apple to begin with announced that Assassin ’s Creed Shadows would be coming to Mac at WWDC 2024 . But that was n’t the only biz that was teased during the event — in fact , there were many more . What about the other titles that were break at that sentence ?
Well , three still have n’t made it to launch twenty-four hour period , although Wuthering Waves is due out tomorrow , March 27 . Other than that , the Mac port ofRoboCop : Rogue Cityis still in development , consort to its creators . Dead Island 2was slated to plunge in 2024 but is entirely absent , with no hint as to when it might make an appearance .
The remaining ten biz have all arrived on the Mac , and that includesControl : Ultimate Edition , which launched today . Palworldreleased on the Mac earlier in March , while Sniper Elite 4 came to Apple ’s computing gadget in January .
We learn Resident Evil 2 andPrince of Persia : The Lost Crownin late 2024 , whileFrostpunk 2 , World of Warcraft : The War Within , and Resident Evil 7 : Biohazard look in the fall or summertime . Riven and Valheim launched in June 2024 , the same calendar month as WWDC .
That ’s not a awful return , and with big - name titles like Assassin ’s Creed , Control and Resident Evil all having made it to the Mac , there are deal of excellent options for Mac gamers .
Waiting for Cyberpunk 2077
But despite all those launches , I ’m still hold out for something even better : hacker 2077 , which is reportedly cominglater this year .
In fact , it ’s probably very close to set in motion . Apple record it running on a Mac Studio at itsrecent demo event , which suggests that it ’s almost ready for go time . As well as that , eagle - eyed Redditorsnoticed that the game ’s Steam package has been update to brook macOS , even though it ’s not yet available for Mac on the Steam storefront . That all suggests it ’ll get the green light rather rather than later .
This could be a big winnings for Mac gamers , but it will be telling how well Cyberpunk performs on Apple silicon . According to testing down by technical school YouTuberQuinn Nelson , Assassin ’s Creed Shadows does n’t do well on theM4 MacBook Air , score an intolerably humble 23fps on average . While the biz does better on anM3 Max chip — getting an average of 43fps — that micro chip is an awfully expensive way to get middling performance in your game .
We ’ll have to hope that Cyberpunk is better optimized than Assassin ’s Creed Shadows . It face promising at Apple ’s recent hardware demonstration , but that was on an expensive Mac Studio . That ’s out of reach for many hoi polloi .
Over to you, Apple
Apple promise a lot at WWDC in terms of the games that would be occur to the Mac , but this should only be date as a starting point . Apple now needs to keep the releases coming into 2025 and beyond .
The party has great hardware that can ( mostly ) hold its own when it come to play , in stark dividing line to even just five years ago . But it needs to ensure that developer see it as an attractive terminus for their crusade . We wo n’t be able-bodied to call Macstrue gaming machinesuntil they have both the hardware chops and bet on roster to lure players in .
The record from WWDC 2024 is fairly encouraging . Now , I ’m looking forrard to pick up what gets bring out at WWDC 2025 . The ballock is firmly in Apple ’s court .
