Is Apple Building Its Own Gaming Platform?
As Apple approaches this year’s WWDC event, the company is allegedly preparing for a major innovation on the gaming side. According to Bloomberg, Apple is working on a new “gaming app” that brings games together in a central interface, bringing together features such as achievements and leaderboards. This move shows that Apple is preparing to offer more opportunities to gamers not only on the hardware but also on the software side.
Apple’s New Gaming App Could Offer a Steam-Like Experience
According to the information shared by Mark Gurman, this new app developed by Apple will be a kind of game launcher. Users will be able to access games they have acquired from the App Store and Apple Arcade through this app. It is stated that the Mac version in particular will be able to recognize games downloaded from outside the App Store, meaning it could potentially connect to platforms such as Steam or Epic Games. In this way, game management on macOS could become much more centralized.
Apple’s recent acquisition of RAC7, the developer of successful games such as Sneaky Sasquatch, also indicates that the company may create its own studios. The fact that major productions such as Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Resident Evil 4 have been ported to macOS in recent years has strengthened Apple’s interest in this area. However, Windows is still preferred by users, as game compatibility is still insufficient on the Mac side.
What Apple needs most to gain a stronger position in the gaming field is to solve the problem of game compatibility. Currently, even on Linux, the gaming experience is more accessible than on Mac. Valve’s Proton compatibility system for Linux can run Windows games without any problems. Apple integrating a similar system into its new game application could provide great convenience for developers.
MacBooks with M-series chips have technically powerful hardware. However, this potential is wasted because not enough games are compatible with macOS. If Apple takes steps to solve this problem, game developers may show more interest in the Mac platform and the number of users may increase in parallel. The introduction of a new game launcher and potential compatibility layer could see Apple take a more ambitious position in the gaming world, where it has been limited for years. All eyes are now on WWDC 2025, which kicks off on June 10.
