Apple macOS Sonoma Lets Game Developers Port Windows Games To Mac: How It Works

During its WWDC 2023 keynote, Apple paid a lot of attention to gaming, and more specifically, gaming on Macs. It introduced a brand-new mode called the ‘Game Mode’ in macOS Sonoma, which optimizes CPU and GPU resources to allow for a smoother gaming experience. This clearly means that the iPhone maker is getting serious about gaming on the platform, and this is why the brand has also brought a new Game Porting Tool that will help developers port their Windows games to macOS—hypothetically, allowing Mac users to experience more games than ever before.

Apple also invited Hideo Kojima, the legendary developer behind Konami’s Metal Gear games; and revealed that ‘Death Stranding: Director’s Cut,’ a previous PS5 exclusive developed by Kojima, is coming to the Mac.

macOS’ Game Porting Tool Is Based On ‘Wine’

As reported by 9to5Mac, Apple’s Game Porting Tool is based on ‘Wine,’ which is a popular open-source solution that optimizes Windows software to run on Unix-based operating systems like macOS and Linux. And, Apple has also made sure that the Game Porting Tool can convert DirectX 12 into Metal 3.

DirectX is a Microsoft API which handles graphics and audio rendering on Windows and Xbox platforms and is equivalent to Metal 3 on macOS.

Game Porting Tool: How It Works

“Bringing your game natively to the Mac will increase its performance and allow you to take advantage of many advanced features of Apple Silicon and Mac hardware, including features like MetalFX and extended dynamic range features of Apple’s built-in displays,” the company said in a developer’s video.

Apple also notes that some games can run just fine without the need to change coding, but if developers do convert the game to a native macOS title, the game will run at double the frame rate and more smoothly.