Intensely demanding AAA game Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to the Mac

The game will take "full advantage of Apple silicon," CD Projekt Red says.

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[Skiddywinks]

This really should have been done ages ago. I know it may break some legacy software, but it's almost 2025. Especially with the way Crowdstrike was getting around signed updates/definitions. No one really needs access to kernel space, except Microsoft.

In a perfect word, I agree. But in a world where malware can get there, AV efforts would be absolutely kneecapped if there isn't at least an API alternative or something.

And love it or hate it, kernel level anti cheat is the only thing that can stop kernel level cheats. So honestly, as always, it's a "pick your poison" kind of deal.

 

[targetnovember]

I'm really excited. I bought CP2077 years ago, but soon after the only computers I really have at home are a Chromebook and iPad. I hope to get a Mac next year again, and even if some games are old and not everything is on the Mac, it doesn't matter to me. I'll have Stray, Baldur's Gate 3, CP2077, Disco Elysium, and maybe a few others I've forgotten. I'm years behind on games. With how little time I have to game, it's plenty, and if I miss out of a few big titles, it's ok. If I get desperate, I'll emulate Skyrim; that's old enough it should run well, and there are still things I haven't done in that game.

 

[Evil Lair]

Something tells me the vast array of mods for the PC version won't be compatible, that's like half the fun of the game for me.

 

[ScifiGeek]

For those who want to game on linux, Alyssa Rosenzweig just gave a very intersting talk about the current GPU driver implementation on Asahi Linux (so, if you are OK with dual boot, that could be a possibility). Right now, only M1 and M2 are supported, and the technical details are incredibly, well, technical, but the current drivers are now able to play nearly all Linux-supported Steam games on a M1 with very good performances (40-45 frames-per-second, which is good enough for many games although it might be limited for highly competitive games).

...

How does it compare to Whisky for running Windows games on a MacOS?

 

[Faceless Man]

Part of me is excited at being able to run it natively on my Mac, and another part is kind of "Well, I've already completed it several times..."

Also, I don't want to have to pay for it again, when some of these AAA games have been released solely via the App Store, so Steam purchases don't count.

What might be even more exciting is if they can get the purported sequel on launch. But that's a few years off, still, I think.

 

[TD912]

I'm a little surprised that this particular title was one chosen to do this work on, it's the last time CD Projekt Red is going to use this engine, they're switching to Unreal Engine 5 for all future work. It seems like a lot of effort for something that's never going to be reused.

Speaking of UE5, Apple is unfortunately facing a pretty big uphill battle getting devs onboard with making game ports.

It doesn’t help that Epic and Apple currently aren’t on the best terms with App Store payments. They support Metal in UE5, but probably aren’t friendly enough with Apple to heavily promote and collaborate like they used to in the iPhone 5 days when they had tech demos during Apple keynotes.

I also remember Apple promoting Unity in one of their keynotes more recently, but then a few months later there was the huge developer backlash and executive turnover after they announced their new royalty rate structure.

 

[you goddamn idiot.]

Side note: this is hot news (the video was released a few jours ago)

Given the fact that the video started in French, I was genuinely confused about whether you made a typo for "hours" or lapsed into French for that one word.

 

[macosandlinux]

Cyberpunk 2027 launched in a rough state in 2020

It even missed 50 years

 

[macosandlinux]

So far, though, Apple's attempts to bring games like this to the platform feel like technical demos to prove it's possible.

Did Apple pay/support this release or is it all CDPR's doing?

 

[panton41]

It even missed 50 years

I still say they launched the game early to coincide with the "Cyberpunk 2020" date, which is still the most popular version of the tabletop game. Cyberpunk Red is, frankly, pretty terrible and seems to be doing poorly based on the absolute dearth of supplements.

Shadowrun 6th Edition came out around the same time and has about 30 English supplements, and a few more original titles in German, including nine "Core Books" detailing most all of the major character archetypes. Cyberpunk Red has seven full-length supplements, and three of them are reprinted collections of free material from their website, and nothing expanding on the core character types. (And a lot of that "new material" is just worked examples of gear options from the core book.)

Not to mention, the gear in Cyberpunk is so generic that GURPS Ultra Tech has more color and variety and the economy makes absolutely no sense at all (there are exactly seven prices for everything). And, the rules are essentially unchanged from the 1990s and seem clunky and overly complex compared to modern games.

 

[panton41]

Apple RAM tax will smack hard all game AAA

Cyberpunk 2077 runs fine on a Steam Deck with 16GB.

Also, AAA Games aren't just annually regurgitated twitch shooters with minimal optimization. The Sims 4 is a AAA game by any measure of the term, and can run on a toaster as long as it has four slots and a bagel setting. (And is also Apple Silicon native and has been for years.)

Plus, Metal and Apple Silicon handles VRAM differently and can manage larger graphics models and textures in smaller amounts of RAM than PCs can.

 

[lgraak]

In a perfect word, I agree. But in a world where malware can get there, AV efforts would be absolutely kneecapped if there isn't at least an API alternative or something.

And love it or hate it, kernel level anti cheat is the only thing that can stop kernel level cheats. So honestly, as always, it's a "pick your poison" kind of deal.

Anti-cheat and AV aren't good reasons to keep access to kernel space a thing. Both Linux and Mac OS close off kernel access. If we are worried about anti-cheat, there's MANY ways server side that devs could use to spot cheating. It's just easier to pay for anti-cheat software to hamfist on to your game.

 

[LiamWestray]

Apple RAM tax will smack hard all AAA games

There is no RAM tax anymore. 16gb base to support Apple's AI models -- which aren't needed when gaming.

Base SSD sizes will have to increase, however, if AAA gaming is going to be viable on Macs.

 

[tumblrfan69]

Considerimg my 3060 ti spends most of its time at 40fps with 1080 rtx on, id be surprised to see it work well on apple.

I wouldn't bother with RTX.

Same card without RTX gets 90+ FPS at 1080p and it still looks fantastic.

 

[EspHack]

I didn't play it at all up until a few weeks ago and oh your god this game is right up there at the top of my list now, AND it looks incredible, more than once somehow, way beyond expectations

 

[EspHack]

I wouldn't bother with RTX.

Same card without RTX gets 90+ FPS at 1080p and it still looks fantastic.

path tracing is something you need to experience, normal lightning looks wrong afterwards, even watching side by side reviews wont give you that impression

 

[Psyborgue]

(I kept ray tracing off, though, since I never see any real image quality benefits).

With the more recent updates they completely redid the lighting and it's path tracing and final gathering all over.

It's worth turning RT on, even if you're playing at a lower resolution. Plays fine on 3090 and 4080 at between 1080 and 4k depending on what frame rates you're willing to tolerate. Look forward to seeing how it plays on my Mac. I am assuming my existing Steam version will work.

 

[Psyborgue]

AI (curse!)

Is what powers denoising to make RT not look like shit and upscaling that also doesn't look like shit. This hysteria is fucking moronic. Tribal idiocy. There's a reason why modern GPUs and SOCs have tensor cores.

 

[dimathiel]

I wouldn't bother with RTX.

Same card without RTX gets 90+ FPS at 1080p and it still looks fantastic.

This. Both the 2070 S and 4070 S I’m using had the ray tracing used once just to see and then never turned on again

 

[CommanderJameson]

That’s a bit grandiose considering I’m already playing Satisfactory, Valheim, Skyrim and more using (free) Wine emulation through Whisky. It’s quite amazing how many games now run perfectly. You just install (Windows) Steam and install and run games normally.

There are some games that require tweaking but a huge number just run. Even demanding games—people have had Cyberpunk running for a while now, though tbf, that is one of the more difficult ones.

Main unfixable problems come from copy protection or some proprietary launchers, the same banes of PC gamers.

The main unfixable problem is that Apple will not do the work Sony and Microsoft did on their platforms to make gaming happen on macOS.

You want AAA games? You need the big multiplayer franchises, native. Normal people aren’t going to to do any work to get a game working beyond “pay money, download game, play game”. And nor should they - this is exactly how it works on PC, Xbox and PlayStation. There’s no “well ackshewally, most games work” - everything you see on the marketplace, be it the Microsoft Store, PlayStation store, or whatever, works.

Alas, without the money pumps of games like COD, FIFA, Madden, etc., there’s never going to be a real incentive for AAA publishers to add macOS to their current list of “PC, Xbox, and PlayStation”.

I mean, come on. Even Valve can’t be arsed making an AS version of Steam.

 

[panton41]

I do agree. Just desktop and laptop screen run at much higher resolution than steam deck. Not mention all detail slider goes to reasonable high on desktop/laptop than any handheld devices.

There are good reason any medium and high end video card run their own local RAM.

My point is, Apple try to position their hardware for high end game. While in the past they very cheat at user on RAM size. I do hope at some point game and AI (curse!) push Apple to offer good amount RAM for basic configuration.

The detail slider goes where the user wants it to do. There's no requirement that it MUST be higher on a laptop or desktop.

But, Apple Silicon runs pretty close to VRAM speeds and the assets in RAM aren't duplicated in VRAM like they are on PC (and Steam Deck). I imagine 16GB would be tight to run Cyberpunk 2077, but reasonable on lower settings. FWIW, I ran Cyberpunk 2077 on a laptop with 16GB system RAM and a GeForce 1650 with 4GB at 1080 on medium setting, and it was OK, my M1Pro is comparable to that graphics card, but the shared RAM means it can manage larger assets due to more RAM.

Of course, there's a reason I sold my 16GB M2Pro Mac Mini for an all AMD system with 64GB system RAM and 16GB VRAM running Linux, but one of the new M4Pro Mac Minis with more RAM would have been OK (but out of my price range). (I realized that Crusader Kings III with minimal mods was running out of RAM with 16GBs, and I could build a new decently mid-range gaming PC for the price of the Mac Mini's trade in value at Best Buy.)

 

[CommanderJameson]

I am assuming my existing Steam version will work.

I don’t think that assumption will hold. I strongly doubt your Steam version will deliver the AS binaries - instead, you’ll almost certainly have to purchase it again. Whether the Windows version of CP2077 can be kludged to work through emulation/translation layers is a different question.

 

[panton41]

I don’t think that assumption will hold. I strongly doubt your Steam version will deliver the AS binaries - instead, you’ll almost certainly have to purchase it again. Whether the Windows version of CP2077 can be kludged to work through emulation/translation layers is a different question.

Plenty of Steam accounts that have all the DLC for a game end up getting the "All DLC Ultimate Game Version" for free. At least they have for Bethesda games for years and years, among others. I can't imagine CD Projekt Red breaking that trend.

 

[panton41]

The main unfixable problem is that Apple will not do the work Sony and Microsoft did on their platforms to make gaming happen on macOS.

Existing? Because that's all Microsoft and Sony did.

You want AAA games? You need the big multiplayer franchises, native.

AAA Gaming isn't just annually regurgitated multiplayer twitch shooters and garbage quality sportsball games.

Normal people aren’t going to to do any work to get a game working beyond “pay money, download game, play game”. And nor should they - this is exactly how it works on PC, Xbox and PlayStation.

I did jack shit after leaving Windows and got The Sims 4 - a AAA game by any measure - on MacOS without doing anything. Rinse, repeat, World of Warcaft. Again, AAA games aren't just annually regurgitated twitch shooters and sportsball and Mac gamers aren't necessarily traditional PC gamers. I'll bet big money that Paradox Interactive has very, very different numbers on Mac gamers across their entire strategy game portfolio than even EA or Blizzard, despite The Sims 4 and World of Warcraft being big cross platform titles.

There’s no “well ackshewally, most games work” - everything you see on the marketplace, be it the Microsoft Store, PlayStation store, or whatever, works.

Alas, without the money pumps of games like COD, FIFA, Madden, etc., there’s never going to be a real incentive for AAA publishers to add macOS to their current list of “PC, Xbox, and PlayStation”.

So, trash quality, annually regurgitated twitch shooters and sportsball games that sell exclusive to consoles? What exactly does Apple have to fear? Again, companies like Paradox Interactive probably have more popular games on MacOS than Activision and EA.

I mean, come on. Even Valve can’t be arsed making an AS version of Steam.

To be fair, even on Windows they're not 64-bit. Come back after Apple openly announces Intel is going bye-bye in 6 months.

Frankly, I think Apple should be focusing on somewhat more causal games like, yet again, companies like Paradox Interactive, than trash quality annually regurgitated games from the bigger publishers. I'll bet some of the smaller game devs would love an influx of Mac gamers if they got an injection of cash from Apple.

 

[mschira]

Baldur’s gate worked very well on my MacBook M3pro….

 

[arcite]

How would this play on a base-spec M2 macbook air?

Not great. The problem is lack of a fan, so the GPU will throttle after 10-20 mintues and your performance will nose dive.

 

[torp]

So will this ultimate edition include all platforms if bought on Steam or other multi platform store?

I'd expect that from CD Projekt but if this was done in some cooperation with Apple I'd expect them to try and get customers to pay separately per platform...

 

[iseptimus]

Weirdly I am actually enjoying gaming on my M3 Pro MBP. I have it with me for work when travelling, and with Heroic Launcher, Mythic and Parallels, there isn't much I can't play. When I have good connectivity I have Geforce Now Ultimate and GamePass. It's all surprisingly usable and simple to setup. Plus, RetroArch. Really considering the M4 upgrade if it is that much better for gaming.

 

[bonaparte]

Look forward to seeing how it plays on my Mac. I am assuming my existing Steam version will work.

CD project announced that the Mac version will launch on the Mac App Store, GOG.com, Steam and Epic Games Store, so things look promising on that front.

CDP are almost certainly only doing the Apple Silicon version because of a big money hat from Apple. The fact Apple didn’t insist that the Mac version be an App Store exclusive makes me hopeful that this latest round of “Apple is serious about gaming on Mac” might be different from previous efforts.

 

[prh99]

Good, cutting in to Windows dominance for gaming is a good thing.

 

[prh99]

So will this ultimate edition include all platforms if bought on Steam or other multi platform store?

I'd expect that from CD Projekt but if this was done in some cooperation with Apple I'd expect them to try and get customers to pay separately per platform...

Usually on Steam and GOG you get all supported platforms for the game. Don't know about Epic, but I assume so.

 

[the_frakker]

This speaks a lot to the scalability and platform capability efforts that have gone into more modern games.

I’m sure it will run fine on Apple Silicon of all varieties (better on newer and higher end chips, of course). I could see the MacBook Air struggling a little for long gaming sessions due to lacking a cooling fan and throttled performance.

That said; this means Cyberpunk could also be played on an M1 or newer iPad if they decided to launch it there.

 

[the_frakker]

I am curious about ray tracing performance. I am one who notices the little differences and appreciates the improvements to the presentation that RT provides. I watch a lot of Digital Foundry content and I’m looking forward to their analysis.

I’m running an RTX 4080S and played Phantom Liberty with everything turned up and it’s quite a sight. The game still looks great without all the RT effects. And the game is just a fun time to play. So any way it goes, as long as there’s a way to get decent and consistent performance out of Mac, then people are going to have a good time with this one.

 

[arcite]

5 year old AAA Game comes to Mac.



Relax it's a joke. At least we're getting it.

 

[eAi]

Many years back I worked on Split Second at Black Rock Studio, and we had CD Projekt doing the PC port of the game (as we developed the console versions internally using an in-house engine). So, they have experience doing this sort of porting work.

 

[pidgin8]

I have it on good authority that you can’t game on Macs. Or is it Apple Doesn’t Care About Games week?

Both are true, every week.

 

[sapphir8]

Consistent AAA games on the Mac is still a pipe dream. There’s just not a big enough market for this. People don’t tend to buy a Mac to play AAA games. That’s the issue, no consistent AAA games.

 

[jm_leviathan]

Still waiting on CDPR to indicate if they plan to update CP2077 and/or Witcher 3 to support the PS5 Professional...