The M4 Mac Mini might be Apple’s response to gaming thanks to its potent hardware and affordable price. The restricted game compatibility of macOS, however, calls into doubt the platform’s feasibility as a gaming system.
Apple’s M4 Mac Mini: The Gaming Console Apple Needs but With a Major Hurdle
While macOS ranks as the second most popular operating system for PCs, it still falls short when it comes to gaming. Despite the performance improvements brought by Apple Silicon on Macs, gamers tend to gravitate towards Windows systems. Apple promotes the gaming capabilities of its latest M-series chips annually, but these efforts don’t seem to resonate with serious gamers.
Recently, Apple launched a powerful new version of the Mac Mini as part of its M4 Mac week. Due to its compact size and relatively affordable price, the M4 Mac Mini has the potential to shift Apple’s position in gaming. Priced at 9, the mini desktop features the new M4 chip (or M4 Pro), with a minimum of 16GB RAM and 256GB storage—pricing that aligns closely with the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
A crucial component for gaming is still absent from the M4 Mac Mini, despite its amazing hardware.
Can the M4 Mac Mini Compete as a Gaming PC? Not Quite—Yet
On Sunday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggested that the new M4 Mac Mini might just be Apple’s version of a gaming console or at least a nod towards a gaming future.
The M4 Mac Mini is indeed remarkable. As rumored, it’s compact—significantly smaller than its predecessor. With an M4 chip that can compete with Intel and AMD’s latest processors, it’s powerful enough to handle AAA games with ray tracing. Its price is competitive with that of Xbox and PlayStation consoles.
But even with all these strengths, the Mac Mini is unlikely to become a rival for gaming PCs or consoles just yet.
Hardware Isn’t the Issue—It’s the Game Compatibility on macOS
While the lack of capable hardware once held Apple back in the gaming world, that’s no longer the case with the M-series chips. These chips are strong enough to handle the majority of Windows PC games and feature ray tracing. Yet, the biggest barrier preventing the Mac Mini from becoming a budget-friendly, powerful gaming device is not hardware—it’s the limited availability of compatible games on macOS.
Why Are There Fewer Games on macOS Than Windows?
At the time of writing, four of the five most-played games on Steam aren’t compatible with macOS, including popular titles like Counter-Strike 2, Banana, Call of Duty, and PUBG: Battlegrounds. Despite the improvements M-series chips bring to macOS gaming, Windows remains vastly superior in terms of game compatibility.
If Apple wants to build a future in gaming, it needs to address this disparity. So why do so few games make it to macOS, and why does the PC gaming industry lean so heavily towards Windows?
The PC Gaming Industry’s Preference for Windows Over macOS
Most game developers prioritize Windows over macOS because, as of 2024, Windows holds a 73% market share in the PC sector, whereas only 15.5% of users are on macOS (OS X). From a business perspective, it’s an issue of return on investment. Game development is expensive and time-consuming, so, understandably, most developers focus on the operating system with the greatest profit potential.
However, the issue goes beyond market share. Many games are released simultaneously on PC and consoles, or soon after. Why not port a ready Windows or console game to macOS?
The Challenges Developers Face in Bringing Games to macOS
The crux of the problem lies here, and Apple must address it if it hopes to secure a foothold in gaming. Developers face several requirements to bring their games to macOS, including paying for an Apple Developer ID, notarizing the app with Apple, and building it using Apple’s XCode software. Since XCode is exclusive to macOS, these requirements may compel developers to purchase a Mac, a challenge many developers have raised on social media.
Independent game developers and small studios often can’t justify the cost of buying expensive Apple laptops or software, nor can they afford the time needed to adapt their games to Apple’s ecosystem, especially given macOS’s small market share, which translates to minimal returns on their investment.
Does Apple Have a Future in Gaming?
Apple has made efforts in recent years to draw more developers to macOS. For example, it updated its Game Porting Toolkit at WWDC 2024 to make porting games to macOS smoother. But until Apple simplifies the process for developers and makes it economically viable, the M4 Mac Mini—despite its capabilities—may not become the game console Apple hopes for.