MacRumors interviewed Feral Industries to gauge the future of gaming on Mac. Satisfied with the performance of Apple Silicon, Feral said that Apple’s custom chip “opens up some exciting opportunities” for gaming on the new generation of Macs.
Feral Interactive is a games developer and publisher that converts high-quality PC and console games for macOS, iOS, Android, and other platforms. Since 1996, Feral has successfully introduced several games on Mac like the Total War series and Batman: Arkham series, Tomb Raider, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
Apple Silicon gives Feral the “freedom” to bring more demanding games to Mac
In 2020, Apple commenced the two-year transition from Intel processors to Apple Silicon for Macs. Powered by Soc (system on a chip) M1series chips, new Macs have received great reviews and are in high demand for their high performance and incredible battery life.
Accrediting improved gaming experience on Mac to Apple Silicon, Feral said it gives them “a greater degree of freedom in looking at more demanding games” to bring to Mac which was not possible before.
“Before [Apple silicon], nearly all the most popular Apple computers, particularly their entry level laptops, used Intel Integrated Graphics. That was a problem. We had to spend a large part of extended development cycles optimizing games to make sure they ran as well as possible on devices which were not intended or designed for gaming.”
The developer also mentioned that the combination of Apple Silicon and modern graphics API in Metal has had a huge impact on porting games for macOS.
“The problem is that AAA games often push the limits on hardware, and we need to be confident that we can get a game to run well on a broad range of machines, often stretching back several years. However, the current transition to Apple silicon opens up some exciting opportunities. In comparison to the previous generation of Intel-based Macs, it offers a big step up in power, and for games that translates to better performance and enhanced graphical fidelity.”
Recently, Feral released two new games on M1 series Macs: Total War: Rome Remastered and Total War: Warhammer III, and promised to bring more AAA games to the new Macs.
As for the prospects for Apple silicon Macs and the future of Mac gaming more generally, Feral is bullish. “We’re enthusiastic about its renewed capability as a gaming platform. We intend to remain focused on bringing great games to the platform, making them run as well as possible, and supporting them for a long time.”
