How the Mac became a gaming platform

During the keynote speech at WWDC 2022, Apple donated two separate pieces to the “Games” area. Initially it was Jeremy Sandmel, Apple’s chief GPU program manager, who shared new information about Apple’s “Metal” graphics interface. In version 3, this not only includes an API to move assets faster from large memory to graphics memory, reducing load times and popups in Mac games, but also an upgrade technology called “MetalFX Upscaling”.

Upgrading hardware has become very popular in gaming since the introduction of Nvidia DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). These graphics achieve significantly better graphics with relatively little computing power, as the GPU first renders a smaller image with higher graphics settings and then upgrades it using various methods.

While Nvidia with DLSS and

Intel with XeSS
slated for release later this year is based on an AI-powered upgrade, and Apple is following the path of AMDs with a MetalFX upgrade

Ultra-precision FidelityFX
And it comes, at least according to current information, without artificial intelligence. Instead, a combination of “spatial upscaling” and “temporal anti-aliasing” (TAA) is used to enlarge the displayed image with minimal quality loss. No Man’s Sky will be one of the first games to use the new technology, which Sandmel says will be released for Mac later this year.

It remains to be seen how the MetalFX upgrade actually works. In a brief appearance, Capcom’s Masaru Ijuin clarified that Resident Evil Village, also set for the Mac later this year, will run in 1080p on the Macbook Air and even 4K on the Mac Studio.

New Features for Game Center

In addition to new technical developments, Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, has moved to the same platform and, in his latest presentation, positioned the iPad as the ideal gaming device. In addition, there have been updates to Game Center, where you can not only play with friends and family in the future, but also keep track of their activities – for example, who unlocked which achievements and when. In addition, thanks to “SharePlay”, it will be easier to start an online session with friends in the future.

So in general, there are a lot of plausible innovations that could indicate that Apple is taking the topic of “games” seriously. While it may take some time before the company becomes a true competitor to PCs and consoles, it is already making great strides in the right direction.