Huge news for Mac gamers dropped during Apple’s WWDC event, as the Game Porting Toolkit 2 (GPT2) was revealed, alongside 14 games that are getting official Mac ports thanks to its release.
No Apple Mac is among the best gaming PCs, but this new level of support for developers is part of a much longer process to change how gaming on a Mac product is viewed. This new GPT2 feature builds upon the initial release and brings AVX2 support which is set to expand the number of Mac ports that are now possible.
Revealed during WWDC 2024, GPT2 brings some much-needed additional support for gaming on Macs, but the benefit is only truly felt if you’re using an Apple M4 system, as the AVX2 instruction set isn’t supported on any of its previous processors according to tech YouTuber Vadim Yuryev.
While AVX2 is a huge addition, on top of the DirectX12 support in the original toolkit, it’s not the be-all-end-all when it comes to modern gaming on a Mac. Games made in Unreal Engine 5 don’t require AVX2 and the lack of support on previous chips means only a small percentage of Mac owners will see any real benefit from this right now.
However, future Apple releases will have this support from day one, and this will give developers a much larger audience to target, making the work of porting their games more cost-effective.
Also announced during WWDC were 14 new games arriving on Mac OS Sequoia thanks to the release of GPT2, they include:
- Dead Island 2
- Sniper Elite 4
- Wuthering Waves
- Assassin’s Creed Shadows
- Control: Ultimate Edition
- Palworld
- Resident Evil 7
- Riven
- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
- Valheim
- World of Warcraft: The War Within
- Frostpunk 2
- Resident Evil 2
- Robocop: Rogue City
In addition to these officially supported titles, the r/macgaming community on Reddit is showcasing various titles that now work following the release of GPT2 when paired with compatibility software like Crossover.
While gaming on a Mac still isn’t as simple and straightforward as a purpose-built Windows PC, Apple is showing its continued commitment to improving this weakness.
If you’re a part of the Apple ecosystem but want to satisfy your gaming needs, we can show you how to build a gaming PC that will run the latest and greatest games with ease.