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Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99View PC Gaming Show Computex 2025 TES4: Oblivion Elden Ring: Nightreign Recommended reading Gaming Industry Microsoft crawls back to Steam ahead of schedule by leaking a screenshot of an app where you can launch Steam games through Xbox 'For too long, Apple has operated a walled garden around its products': The EU forces Apple to open its closed system to third parties Gaming Industry Props for the honesty: Tim Sweeney says the reason 'people characterize the Epic Games launcher as clunky' is—wait for it—'because the Epic Games launcher is clunky' Apple Mac Studio M4 Max review Gaming Industry European Commission orders Apple to finally open the gates of its walled garden and level the playing field for third-party developers Gaming Industry Following its huge win over Apple, Epic says it will take even less money from developers who use its store Battle Royale Tim Sweeney is recommending a 'fake adware version of Fortnite' to iOS users that's been 'approved by Apple', unlike the real Fortnite Gaming Industry Apple is reportedly creating its own Steam-like game launcher, but it's still missing the key to making gaming on Mac great Stevie Bonifield 1 June 2025 Apple is creating its own game launcher, but what it really needs is a page from Valve's book. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Future) Apple's 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC,is just a couple weeks away. Like every year previous, it sounds like Apple is going to squeeze gaming into its software announcements. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is planning to unveil a "dedicated gaming app" that "will serve as a launcher for titles and centralize in-game achievements, leaderboards, communications and other activity." That sounds a lot like Steam, only this app will feature games from the App Store and, of course, the Apple Arcade subscription service. However, Gurman also mentioned that the Mac version "can tap into games downloaded outside of the App Store," so maybe it will connect to your Steam or Epic Games library somehow. You may like Microsoft crawls back to Steam ahead of schedule by leaking a screenshot of an app where you can launch Steam games through Xbox 'For too long, Apple has operated a walled garden around its products': The EU forces Apple to open its closed system to third parties Props for the honesty: Tim Sweeney says the reason 'people characterize the Epic Games launcher as clunky' is—wait for it—'because the Epic Games launcher is clunky' Apple also recently purchased RAC7, the studio behind Sneaky Sasquatch, which might hint that they're planning to do some in-house game development. The past few years have also seen a handful of prominent games get ported to Apple's platforms, like Assassin's Creed Mirage and Resident Evil 4, and Netflix Gaming has made some admirable progress bringing over indie games like Hades and Death's Door. While all of that is a step in the right direction, most gamers are still opting for a Windows PC or a console to play anything beyond mobile games. A new game launcher for Apple devices will probably make it more convenient finding and managing games on your Mac or iPhone, but it doesn't address the underlying issue of game compatibility. Unfortunately for Apple, right now gaming on Linux is a better experience than gaming on Mac, which is really saying something. One has to wonder why Apple doesn't take a page from Valve's book and develop a compatibility layer for macOS like Valve's Proton platform, which has brought hundreds of Windows games to Linux. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. A compatibility layer would reduce the hassle for developers to bring their games to Apple devices, or at least to macOS, and create a path to quickly grow the player base on macOS. Right now, Apple has to work against the Catch-22 of no players vs no game developers: game devs aren't creating games for Mac because gamers are overwhelmingly playing on Windows, and that won't change until there are more games on Mac. Ironically, MacBooks have gotten a lot better for gaming since Apple launched its M-series chips. The issue is that there aren't very many games compatible with macOS to really take advantage of that hardware. Some sort of Proton-like compatibility layer, which could be built into Apple's new launcher, seems like the perfect way to bridge that gap and show how good gaming on macOS can be, potentially leading more devs to offer native Mac support. 2025 games: This year's upcoming releases Best PC games: Our all-time favorites Free PC games: Freebie fest Best FPS games: Finest gunplay Best RPGs: Grand adventures Best co-op games: Better together Stevie Bonifield Contributor Stevie Bonifield is a freelance tech journalist specializing in mobile tech, gaming gear, and accessories. Outside of writing, Stevie loves indie games, TTRPGs, and building way too many custom keyboards. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Microsoft crawls back to Steam ahead of schedule by leaking a screenshot of an app where you can launch Steam games through Xbox 'For too long, Apple has operated a walled garden around its products': The EU forces Apple to open its closed system to third parties Props for the honesty: Tim Sweeney says the reason 'people characterize the Epic Games launcher as clunky' is—wait for it—'because the Epic Games launcher is clunky' Apple Mac Studio M4 Max review European Commission orders Apple to finally open the gates of its walled garden and level the playing field for third-party developers Following its huge win over Apple, Epic says it will take even less money from developers who use its store Latest in Gaming Industry 'We wish to express our deepest regret': Bulletstorm and Outriders dev People Can Fly suspends unannounced projects in yet another wave of gaming layoffs Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic confirms layoffs: 'The landscape is shifting, and with it, so must we' ZeniMax QA union reaches a tentative contract agreement with Microsoft including 'substantial across-the-board wage increases,' worker protections, and more Electronic Arts cancels Black Panther game and closes the studio making it Discord asks users to ponder its Orbs, an earnable currency you can use to buy Nitro More than 60% of Capcom's digital game sales last year were on PC Latest in News Elden Ring Nightreign's Wylder can not only rocket jump with his explosive ultimate, he can grappling hook combo into it to fly around like an offstage Smash Bros. character 'We wish to express our deepest regret': Bulletstorm and Outriders dev People Can Fly suspends unannounced projects in yet another wave of gaming layoffs Elden Ring Nightreign artist wanted part of the game to feel 'more cozy, more welcoming, more at home,' so naturally she drew on Dark Souls for inspiration You get a unique relic for beating Elden Ring Nightreign's 'supposed to lose' tutorial boss, but don't worry: There's a buried menu option to fight him again The GOAT of Sekiro has already soloed Elden Ring Nightreign's final boss as its katana-parrying samurai guy It's not just you: Elden Ring Nightreign's matchmaking is taking forever if it works at all, and there doesn't seem to be a fix⁠—aside from queueing with a full group HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES LATEST GAME REVIEWS Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads Best graphics card for laptops in 2025: the mobile GPUs I'd want in my next gaming laptop Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most Best 14-inch gaming laptop in 2025: The top compact gaming laptops I've held in these hands Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I've tested SteelSeries Rival 3 Gen 2 Wireless review Phanteks Eclipse G400A review To a T review: Not just wholesome, but wonderfully weird Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 review Elden Ring Nightreign review: A messy co-op action RPG that shouldn't be this good PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. 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