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29
Jan

Call for Comments: Is the State of Mac Gaming Improving?

Posted by Russ Looney

Aspyr Media games

Mac gaming is getting some press attention these days.  IGN recently took some time to look at issues facing Mac games, with the main criticisms being the delay in games released on the Mac and the perceived lack of support from Apple on the hardware and marketing side.  

While the Apple brand continues to grow in popularity, thanks to the iPhone and iPad, Mac gamers are still frequently forced to wait upwards of two years for major games to arrive on their machines. And despite increasing similarities in regards to hardware, one has to wonder if the Mac will ever stand shoulder to shoulder with its Windows-based counterpart. What’s holding these otherwise lauded machines behind?

However, as discussed in a recent interview with 9to5Mac, Aspyr feels this is improving quite a bit.  

Civilization V was within 2 months, Borderlands 2 was within 2 months, Duke Nukem Forever was within weeks, Rage within 2 months, and we released the Civilization V: Gods and Kings expansion day-and-date worldwide on both Steam and the Mac App Store. I’m proud of how we’ve been able to respond with timely Mac versions despite growing difficulties technically. If it’s a common goal of the developer, license holder and Aspyr, then shipping simultaneously is an option.

[Plus,] Our relationship with Apple is at an all-time high. The emergence of the Mac App Store has given us the opportunity to engage more deeply regarding our roadmap, ideas, successes and hurdles. … The people we work with at Apple have enthusiasm and support for what we do, and our success helps bring more awareness of Mac gaming within Apple.

We want to hear what you think! Do you feel Mac gaming is improving?  

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  1. Call for Comments: To SteamPlay or Not [Updated]
  2. Call for Comments: What will Mac Apps mean for YOU?
  3. Console Gaming with Apple?

Tags: , , ,   Posted Call for Comments, Mac Gaming |

  • plimpton

    It’s MUCH better today than it was even last year, with Origin going Mac and porting the Frostbite engine to Mac, it’s bound to get even better

    • matulaj

      I agree, the Origin announcement is exciting and hopefully holds great things for us in the future. Thanks for your input!

  • MichalM.Mac

    It is geting better. Aspyrs golden age was 10 years ago when you have been releasing 7+ AAA games per year. I hope you can get back to that number and beyond.

    • matulaj

      Aspyr’s definitely hard at work trying to release as many awesome, quality titles as they can. Thanks for your input!

  • http://twitter.com/JanSupper Jan Supper

    It all went better, the Performance is Great!
    A Bit more AAA Games would be Great, but there a already quit a lot Out.
    The only Thing which is really annoing is that e.g. All the CoD Titels Aren’t avaible in the German Store, because Apple has a Problem with it. -.-
    But the rest is really Great, you guys Rock!

    • matulaj

      Thanks for your input Jan! Have you looked for other places you can get the game that might get around this issue?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/William-Carter/906720155 William Carter

    I love how Mac gaming is atm,
    My problem is every day i sell Macs as my job and i know the capabilities better than most.
    I have now gone back to my PS3 for the great deals on games i had missed. Also the connectivity with other people on Mac is a bit of a problem.
    You can get a great game like Borderlands 2. (I am a huge fan of the series.)
    On Mac. i have 1 friend that plays it. On PS3 i have about 20.

    Single player games i still buy on the Mac because i want to support Aspyr/Game agent.

    • matulaj

      We appreciate the support! The multiplayer servers are only as full as the size of the gaming audience, so as Mac gaming grows, hopefully multiplayer will grow with it. Thanks for your input!

  • http://twitter.com/Rancore202 Philo Wintercoat

    At the moment it has indeed been getting better. The future of Mac gaming, however, will depend largely on how willing the developers of new titles are to make their games with Macs in mind, and that will be influenced by the success of ported titles in the present. So buy ‘em up lads! You’re makin’ us look good!

    • matulaj

      Too true! The success of Mac games today determines the titles and support of tomorrow. Thanks for your input.

  • http://twitter.com/dixonmb Michael B. Dixon

    Okay, I’m a old school Mac gamer. I was involved in the Mac game business back in the 90s (anyone remember MacGamer’s Ledge? That was me and my gaggle of writers!). Those were lean times, and that’s why I started the MGL. Aspyr came along and played miracle workers, bringing LucasArts and EA games to the Mac, and I enjoyed getting to know the Aspyr crew during those years at Macworld and E3 conventions.

    So when I compare today’s Mac gaming offerings with those days of beige Mac boxes, there is no comparison. Sure, we still aren’t getting day-one releases of some key titles (re: new SimCity…but at least it’s not a port!), but the choices and instant gratification of downloadable games is awesome. (Photo is from 2000 E3 Convention. Care to guess who everyone is in this historic Mac gamer legends photo?)

    • matulaj

      Nice photo Michael! Thanks for sharing your opinion and memories. I’m not familiar with the people in the photo, who are they?

      • http://twitter.com/dixonmb Michael B. Dixon

        To be honest, I can’t remember everyone in the photo these days, but I remember Michael Rogers (Aspyr) is 3rd from left, I’m #5, Scott Kevill (GameRanger founder) next to me, and the Aspyr Media press relations person next to Scott (can’t recall her name now).

    • http://macgamerhq.com/ Mac Gamer Ric

      I’m pretty “new” when it comes to Mac gaming, nice to hear how it was back then! I completely agree, more games keep coming, release dates keep getting better, it’s good to be a mac gamer :)

  • http://twitter.com/tesswan Tessa

    I would definitely say it’s improving. Having recently acquired a Macbook Air, I started to see if any newer game would run on it. Turns out BL2 runs great (on lowest settings), but I’ve never once had a bug with it. With my gaming PC (and I run every other new game perfectly), BL2 was riddled with BSOD bugs. It was to the point where I couldn’t go into Caustic Caverns at all without a crash. My Macbook Air though? Purrs like a kitten through the caverns. Since Macs inherently have less hardware combinations to bug test for, the likelihood for BSOD type bugs are much smaller in my experience. I do say, it’s been frustrating waiting for BL2 to update on the Mac so we can play PC players, but now that my husband got a newer Mac, we could both plays on our Macs. I’ll probably get an iMac soon so that I can play games in the future, but for now, I am pretty content.

    • matulaj

      Happy to hear Borderlands 2 is running so well on your MacBook Air! Thanks for your input!

  • http://macgamerhq.com/ Mac Gamer Ric

    I believe Mac gaming is getting better and better. Of course, if you compare it to the PC (as most people do), it still lags far behind. But that’s not a fair comparison.
    When you think about how far mac gaming has come, the progression is pretty impressive! Thanks to publishers such as Aspyr and Feral and developers such as Valve or Blizzard, mac gaming truly has a TON of awesome modern games to offer nowadays. Release dates are getting better and the hardware is slightly improving too (top notch Nvidia cards compatible with Mac Pros anyone?).

    I actually wrote an extensive post + infographic to make this point: Mac Gaming has never been better! (You can find it here: http://www.macgamerhq.com/opinion/mac-gaming/ )

    At the end, mac gaming’s future is on the hands of the developers. Apple needs to get more involved and encourage developers to bring their games to the Mac. The first thing they need to do BTW, is make OpenGL a more credible option to DirectX….

  • Bazzy

    Late to the party here as I’m on a trip. But I’ve been a Mac game since I was 5, and still doing it 20 years later. (disclaimer, I do use bootcamp, but primarily use OSX and do prefer native gaming.) Otherwise I’ve been a volunteer staff writer at Inside Mac Games for about the last 3 years.

    Short answer? Yes, mac gaming is improving, but there’s still a long ways to go. And achieving parity with PC releases is only one part of the bigger picture. Its a large slice of it to be sure, we wouldn’t be here without the games.

    Longer answer: Gaming itself is improving, but the ecosystem around mac gaming itself is not improving and is in dire need of help.

    In some ways I think its an incorrect point of view that we have to play catch-up with our PC brethren. It is true in some areas, but given the larger install base and number of gamers, and more importantly, number of developers, you can’t compare it straight up to Mac gaming. Nonetheless there are a significant number of things the PC developers and the PC community does right that I take inspiration from. Three major one’s come to mind:

    1. Coverage. Mac gaming journalism is all but dead, and otherwise has been exceptionally poor the last several years ago. Some 10 years ago it was thriving, now its almost died off. There’s a complete lack of anything dynamic or really interesting going on. More coverage (journalism) then leads us to..

    2. Community. The Mac gamers themselves. A majority seems spread out in little pockets or corners of the web, or not participating at all. We have a few small sites and forums, and that’s it. But there’s a lot more than can be done to connect the community together and have some dynamic synergy going on. This leads us to..

    3. Developer Outreach. Recently this has been improving as well. But overall Mac game developers big and small need to make an effort to connect with their audience. Not everyone can have total transparency, but more discussion and showing of how things work and what’s coming for Mac gamers is needed. Not just the games, but who brings us our games. The people and personalities behind that.

    All of these things form a feedback loop. Journalists help the developers achieve that outreach through previews, reviews, interviews and interesting features, and the community can read/comment/interact with the content being provided about their games. Some may not be very interested in reading a review, but there’s so much more that can happen to bring all these things together and make things more fun and interesting for everyone involved, whether its the journalists, readers or developers.

    I have plans to do those 3 things specifically, but just wanted to also point out the broader picture, the ecosystem if you will, around our beloved mac games.

  • Shangteri

    Well, Mac gaming is improving!
    I own a 21.5″ iMac, and recently bought CoD4:MW and soon I’ll buy BO2!
    But you should really benefit Game Center for friends, inviting, joining and so!

    My friends thought that you can’t play with mac, but they we’re really wrong!
    Good job Aspyr, but Game Center is key for success in future!