 "Windows games on Macs: Know everything about Apple's Game Porting Toolkit")
At its Worldwide Developers Conference 2023, Apple announced its much anticipated mixed-reality headset. But it is not the only thing that Apple has announced. The American tech giant also previewed the features and tools coming to its platforms later this year. One of such tools is the Game Porting Toolkit for Macs that is coming with the macOS Sonoma.
Currently available for developers, the toolkit enables Windows games on Macs. The Game Porting Toolkit will serve an emulation environment to run existing unmodified Windows game(s) on Apple Silicon Macs. Besides, it will dramatically simplify the process of translating game’s shaders and graphics code, said Aiswariya Sreenivassan, an engineering project manager for GPUs and graphics at Apple to The Verge. The Cupertino-based company also displayed a demo of the DirectX 12 game The Medium playing through the demo toolkit, which appeared to run glitch-free mostly.
The Game Porting Toolkit can only be downloaded by people with a developer account as it is currently aimed for the developer community.
The software can be employed by developers to make sense of the graphics feature usage and performance potential of their games and understand how they will run on a Mac before porting them for macOS, according to Apple.
For now, the tech company has not put any limitations on its installation and usage. It essentially means almost anyone with an Apple developer account can download the toolkit on their Macs and port the Windows games.
In spite of making all the right moves, the toolkit is not a panacea for all problems. So, when running Windows games on Mac, glitches and performance limitations can be expected. But, it provides an outlet to play some popular gaming titles on Mac. Apple has not made any announcement regarding plans to make it accessible to all Mac users in the future.
You’ve reached your limit of {{free_limit}} free articles this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
Already subscribed? Log in
Subscribe to read the full story →*Subscribe to Business Standard digital and get complimentary access to The New York Times
Smart Quarterly
₹900
3 Months
₹300/Month
SAVE 25%
Smart Essential
₹2,700
1 Year
₹225/Month
SAVE 46%
*Complimentary New York Times access for the 2nd year will be given after 12 months
Super Saver
₹3,900
2 Years
₹162/Month
Subscribe
Renews automatically, cancel anytime
Here’s what’s included in our digital subscription plans
Exclusive premium stories online
Over 30 premium stories daily, handpicked by our editors
Complimentary Access to The New York Times
News, Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter & The Athletic
Business Standard Epaper
Digital replica of our daily newspaper — with options to read, save, and share
Curated Newsletters
Insights on markets, finance, politics, tech, and more delivered to your inbox
Market Analysis & Investment Insights
In-depth market analysis & insights with access to The Smart Investor
Archives
Repository of articles and publications dating back to 1997
Ad-free Reading
Uninterrupted reading experience with no advertisements
Seamless Access Across All Devices
Access Business Standard across devices — mobile, tablet, or PC, via web or app
SAVE 25%