David Nield writing for Gizmodo points out the Mac’s lag in gaming support compared to Windows. I’d love to see Apple address this issue — and, naturally, I have some suggestions — but first let’s look at some salient points in David’s argument:
Gaming support isn’t non-existent on the Mac platform, but it’s a long, long way behind what you get on Windows, which has top-tier titles, support for a much bigger range of Steam games, and so forth. Most Macs don’t come with a discrete graphics card (though external GPUs are supported), which means a lot of macOS machines just aren’t ready for serious gaming out of the box.
On Windows, the gaming scene is as busy and vibrant as it’s ever been. Because that’s where the players are, that’s where you’ll find the biggest choice of gaming accessories, utilities, and add-ons as well. And, of course, if you want to build your own gaming rig, you’re going to have to use Windows.
Apple has made moves to improve gaming and VR support for macOS, but it’s looking like a lost cause at the moment, with little interest from third-party developers and manufacturers. Apple will have to content itself with dominating the gaming scene on mobile devices instead.
I think David is right in that the company is more interested in gaming on its iOS devices, but I’d love to see Apple make two moves to improve gaming on the Mac. And, in full disclosure, these are ideas I mentioned a couple of years ago in an AWT article, but feel is worth revisiting.
One idea: offer an Apple joystick/gamepad — or at least the “hooks” so third parties could make ’em. This would require an macOS upgrade. There are third party solutions for doing this, but I’ve never found them especially elegant. How about a plug ’n play joystick/gamepad for the Mac. of software configuration hoops to play Mac games using a joystick/gamepad rather than the keyboard and mouse.
Read more at appleworld.today