Along with macOS 14 Sonoma, unveiled on Monday during the WWDC 2023 opening keynote, Apple introduced an important tool for increase the number of games available for macOS. The news is called Game Porting Toolkitpromises to significantly simplify the work of developers who want to transform an existing Windows title into one capable of running on macOS.
There are already ways to play Windows titles on macOS, for example through tools like CrossOver or Wine. Apple’s idea is basically that of implement a similar solution directly into the systemso that developers can easily port PC games to Mac. The solution was called Game Porting Toolkit, and it is no coincidence that it is based on Wine, open source software.
Game Porting Toolkit is capable of translating APIs DirectX 12 of Windows in technology metal 3 of Apple. Often with little or no developer effort. However, Apple underlined that the differences between a “translated” game from Windows to macOS and one born for macOS there are and will remain, the native macOS versions also offer double the frame rate of their translated equivalents, on the same hardware.
Addressing developers, Apple underlined the importance of another of the innovations introduced with macOS Sonoma, the game mode which promises smoother and more consistent frame rates since it prioritizes the title over CPU and GPU. It also significantly reduces audio latency with AirPods and input lag with popular game controllers, such as Xbox and PlayStation controllers, by doubling the Bluetooth sample rate, and works with any game.
