Whoopi Goldberg was ready to level up in “Diablo IV,” only to learn that, unlike previous “Diablo” releases, it wasn’t playable on a Mac.
“Diablo” maker Blizzard Entertainment merged with Activision in 2008. Now, Microsoft is trying to acquire Activision Blizzard — so perhaps it makes sense that it’d cut off a rival operating system.
But Mac users know that numerous video games are simply incompatible.
The problem…
… is market share. Though modern Macs can handle games, Macs weren’t designed for gaming.
So, studios didn’t often develop for them, and avid computer gamers chose Windows thanks to its wider library of compatible titles.
- In January 2023, Statista found that ~96% of Steam players gaming on desktops and laptops use Windows.
So, studios aren’t incentivized to spend time and money developing for macOS. The inverse is true for mobile games, where iOS reigns supreme.
There have been some workarounds…
… such as cloud gaming services like Amazon Luna, which require fast internet, and compatibility layers — software interfaces that allow programs designed for one environment to run on another, such as a Windows game on macOS or Linux.
Wine is one such compatibility layer for gaming, but it’s hit or miss.
Until now?
At this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, when not talking about Apple Vision Pro, Apple announced a new operating system — macOS Sonoma.
It comes with the new Game Porting Toolkit: a patch to Wine that supports DirectX 12, the graphics API Windows 11 uses, per Inverse.
The TL;DR is that this has allowed some users (you need an Apple developer account to access it now) to play massive newer games, like — yes, Whoopi — “Diablo IV,” with relative, though not perfect, smoothness.
Ideally…
… studios could use the toolkit to make macOS versions of existing games.
But that could mean selling them via Apple’s store, where it takes a big ol’ commission — Epic Games vs. Apple, anyone?
