In my latest video I delve into the performance of the game No Man’s Sky which is now running natively on Apple M1 and M2 processors. This development provides a glimpse into how Apple’s processors can handle popular PC games. I tested the game on my MacBook Air with the M2 processor and my MacBook Pro with the M1 Max chip.
The game runs well on both devices, maintaining a steady 60 frames per second at 1080p resolution. The MacBook Air, which lacks a cooling fan, does have more variations in its performance as it will throttle the processor as things heat up. The MacBook Pro is able to maintain 60 fps at higher settings and is more consistent in its performance.
The Mac port also supports multiplayer features, allowing you to interact with other players on the PC version of No Man’s Sky.
The game is currently available for the Mac on Steam and will soon be available on the Mac App Store. Steam users who bought the game on Windows (like I did) get the Mac port for free. It also syncs up the save game file using steam cloud.
I also discuss Apple’s recent release of a new tool to help developers port their games to the Mac. This tool has already shown promising results, with many Windows games, especially DirectX 12 games, being ported over to Apple Silicon quickly and efficiently.
Apple has been trying for the better part of two decades to attract game developers to the Mac platform. So far those efforts have been in vain but perhaps now the combination of fast and power efficient processors along with better development tools for porting may be enough to convince other developers to port their titles over too. Time will tell!
And if you’re a No Man’s Sky traveler you’re all invited to stop by the Lon System and set up a base on the beautiful planet Lonville with perfect weather conditions. More info here!