Virtualization technology and the Boot Camp dual-boot utility also permit the use of Windows and its games on Macintosh computers.
Today, a growing number of popular games run natively on macOS, though as of early 2019[update], a majority still require the use of Microsoft Windows.
[2] Eventually, Andy Hertzfeld created a Desk Accessory called Puzzle that occupied only 600 bytes of memory, was deemed small enough to be safely included in the operating system, and was shipped with the Mac when released in 1984.
Notable exceptions were Myst (1993), developed on the Mac (in part using HyperCard) and only afterwards ported to Windows,[7] Pathways into Darkness, which spawned the Halo franchise, The Journeyman Project, Lunicus, Spaceship Warlock, and Jump Raven.
[6] In April 1999, Jobs gave an interview with the UK-based Arcade magazine to promote the PowerPC G3-based computers Apple were selling with then new ATI Rage 128 graphics cards, and describing how Apple was "trying to build the best gaming platform in the world so developers are attracted to write for it" and "trying to leapfrog the PC industry".
That makes it hard to be excited about doing games for their platforms.In 2015, Apple brought to the Mac its low-level graphics API Metal, which was introduced a year earlier for iOS.
As of 2018 Metal is supposed to succeed OpenGL on the Mac platform and enable game performance competitive with Vulkan or Direct3D 12.
It was ported to Windows the next year, and Cyan's later games were released simultaneously for both platforms with the exception of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, which was Windows-only until a Mac-compatible re-release (currently in beta) by GameTap in 2007, with the help of TransGaming's Cider virtualization software.
[14] Examples of middleware include the Havok physics engine and the GameSpy internet-based multiplayer gaming client.
When the middleware company refuses such terms porting that particular Windows game to the Mac may be uneconomical and engineering a viable alternative within the available budget impossible.
Notable examples of these are TransGaming, Aspyr, Big Fish Games, Panic Inc., Blizzard Entertainment, Brøderbund, Linden Lab, and Microsoft.
Those creating the Mac version have direct access to the original programmers in case any questions or concerns arise about the source code.
This increases the likelihood that the Mac and Windows versions of a game will launch concurrently or nearly so, as many obstacles inherent in the third-party porting process are avoided.
Among the Mac versions of popular Windows games that were developed in-house are Diablo, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Second Life, Stubbs the Zombie, Call of Duty 4, and World of Warcraft.
A critical factor for the financial viability of these porting houses is the number of copies of the game sold; a "successful" title may sell only 50,000 units.
[citation needed] While this license gives the porting house access to artwork and source code, it does not normally cover middleware such as third-party game engines.
[20] Over the years there have been a number of emulators for the Macintosh that allowed it to run MS-DOS or Windows software, most notably RealPC, SoftPC, SoftWindows, and Virtual PC.
Although more or less adequate for business applications, these programs have tended to deliver poor performance when used for running games, particularly where high-end technologies like DirectX were involved.
VMware Fusion's public beta 2 supports hardware-accelerated 3D graphics which utilize the DirectX library up to version 9.
TransGaming Technologies has developed a product called Cider which is a popular method among publishers to port games to Mac.
[27] An open source Wine-based project called Wineskin allows anyone to attempt to port games to Mac OS X[28] since 2010.
Legal versions of games can then be installed easily into the shared wrapper and then the final result works like a normal Mac app.
Since the end of 2014, there is a PaulTheTall.com app called Porting Kit[29] which automatically creates ready-to-use Wineskin wrappers for some specific games.
[34] Illwinter Game Design and Introversion Software are also notable for supporting these platforms, as did the initial Humble Indie Bundles.
[36] Due to the free software nature of the system, development of such titles mostly begins on Linux; afterwards, major games are typically ported to Mac and Microsoft Windows[37] thanks to using cross-platform libraries like SDL.