During yesterday’s WWDC keynote, Apple announced updates to its Metal API bringing upscaling and smooth gaming performance. Metal 3 introduced the MetalFX framework that enables this, and developers will be able to develop games that can take advantage of the full capabilities of the Apple Silicon chipsets. Two of the titles that were revealed to be coming to native macOS systems were No Man’s Sky and Resident Evil 8: Village.
This could mark the beginning of other developers to bring more titles to Apple’s MacBooks and Mac desktop lineup in the future. Though it's early to say how well the two titles do perform in real life, it would be exciting to see more developers port their games. For starters, developers can try to port less graphics-intensive titles before moving to bigger triple-A games.
The MetalFX framework boasts quicker load times for game resources and textures. This will aim to improve game loading times and a lag-free experience for some of the open-world titles like Genshin Impact.
Additionally, the MetalFX API also now allows developers to enable in-game downloads in the background. In the past, you wouldn’t be able to download all the elements in the game while you used other apps. Downloads would be paused until you’re back in the app to resume it. The new update will helps gamers work on other tasks while the game updates its resources in the background.
Will my MacBook Pro be gaming-ready?
The new announcements just give me hope that I can use my M1 MacBook Pro for light gaming sessions. I’m not planning on stressing my system with any battle royale titles. But I’d be happy to play some indie titles that wouldn’t squeeze the life out of my laptop.
Apple is also expected to buy game publisher Electronic Arts. While I do feel a bit unsure about how well it would work, it does feel like Apple has things planned for the future. Both the companies would benefit to port existing titles to support M1. And EA can concentrate on developing more titles specifically for Apple Arcade. If it does decide to expand its portfolio.
Some games and apps continue to run on macOS using the Rosetta 2 framework. Intel-based apps will be converted by the chipset. Steam and Origin continue to require Rosetta, so if Apple does successfully get EA under its wings, we could expect to see the company bring titles taking advantage of Metal 3 API across the ecosystem.
