The Mac is seen by everyone as an excellent PC only for those looking for a pleasant-looking device and a simple and fast operating system in daily use, sacrificing part of the features that can be found on a Desktop PC with Windows installed. In fact, many think that it is not possible to play games on Mac, leaving this task to a Windows PC (much more suitable, especially for the power of video cards).
But if we wanted to play on Mac what we should do and how we can install games that we already own "> 30 Free games to download for Linux, Mac and Windows PC
Minimum requirements to play on Mac
Macs also require some computing power to be able to run compatible games correctly.
The characteristics that our Mac must have in order to be suitable for the game are decidedly minor compared to a PC with Windows:
- CPU : considering that all recent Macs have an Intel CPU, let's try to choose a Mac with a recent quad-core CPU.
- RAM : in order to play effectively on Mac we recommend to focus only on models with at least 8 GB of RAM, so that all compatible games can run.
- GPU : in the case of the iMac make sure that the dedicated AMD Radeon Pro graphics chip is present (in the case of the iMac Pro, there will be the AMD Radeon Pro VegA graphics chip with 8GB or 16 GB of HBM2 memory).
Models with an integrated Intel graphics chip are not very suitable for playing (therefore all MacBook laptops).
- Storage : practically all Macs rely on the SSD, so make sure that the solid state drive is present so as to obtain excellent performance when starting the game or during uploads.
These are the minimum requirements to be able to play on a modern Mac; if our Mac does not meet one of the requirements seen above, the risk of having problems when running the games is very high, so better forget it.
How to install games on Mac with Steam
The easiest way to install games on Mac is to use the Steam distribution platform, which has a large catalog of downloadable and bootable games on Mac.
We first download the Mac OS X compatible platform client from the link here -> Steam Client for Mac .
A file called steam.dmg will be downloaded to the Mac, which is the Mac-compatible program installer.
The installer will immediately show a window in which to accept the terms of use of the client and the distribution platform.
We click Agree to accept the license; after a few seconds you will be asked to drag the Steam symbol into the Applications folder, as shown in the image below.
We hold down on the Steam symbol and drag it inside the Applications folder on the right; we have finished installing Steam on the Mac!
To open the client you just have to open the Launchpad in the bottom bar and look for the Steam symbol.
The operating system will notify us that the program has been downloaded from the Internet; we click Open to start it correctly.
At the first start Steam will most likely start to download an updated version of the client, you will only have to wait for the end of the download to be able to display the access screen to the Steam services.
If we don't have a Steam account yet, we click Create new account ; if instead we already use Steam on PC and we want to bring our games to Mac, we will have to use the entry Login to an existing account .
Once logged in (two-factor authentication via email or phone number may be required) we will be able to view the client interface as we are used to seeing it on Windows.
Mac-compatible games are immediately available in the interface, but you can search for them both in the Store menu (to search for new games not yet purchased) and in the Library (to see compatible games from those purchased on Windows).
We can also add Steam license keys using the button on the bottom left Add a game .
If we have games in our library that do not appear on this client, it means that the game is not compatible with the Mac so it cannot be installed; when buying a new game always check compatibility, so as to find out in advance if the game can be played on the Mac.
Once we have chosen the game we are interested in, click on Add to Cart (to buy it via PayPal or credit card) or on Install (to install games we already have).
The Steam client will take care of downloading the game and installing it automatically on the Mac, also installing any additional components to run the game correctly.
Compatibility of Mac games
Not all games available for Windows can be played on Mac, that's why we recommend using Steam directly in order to find games that support Mac OS X and the hardware made available by Mac immediately.
We can find a list of compatible games on Mac at the dedicated Steam page, reachable from here -> MacOS Steam Games .
Just navigate the menus offered or use the search bar at the top to find out if the game we love can also be played on the Mac.
As a general rule , Mac compatible games are those that have support for OpenGL or Vulkan graphics libraries, the only ones that can be used outside the Windows environment to correctly manage game graphics (on Windows, proprietary graphics libraries are used instead DirectX, not available on Mac).
If the game you are looking for has support for these graphics libraries or is expected to convert quickly, it is highly likely that it will be compatible with the Mac and will be available through Steam.
READ ALSO: Steam Guide: how to download games on PC
