Apple Announces 'Game Mode' in macOS Sonoma for Better Mac Gaming Performance

Monday June 5, 2023 1:26 pm PDT by Tim Hardwick

Apple at WWDC today announced Game Mode, a new gaming feature for Macs that's exclusive to macOS Sonoma.

Apple WWDC23 macOS Sonoma gaming 230605
With Game Mode enabled in macOS 14, the Mac prioritizes CPU and GPU power for the running title, thereby improving gaming hardware performance across the board. For example, Game Mode makes gaming on Mac even more immersive by dramatically lowering audio latency with AirPods.

Apple says it has also doubled the Bluetooth sampling rate for paired Xbox and Playstation controllers, while a new Game Porting toolkit for developers makes it easier to port games from other platforms.

Game Mode works with any game, including all of the recent and upcoming Mac games, according to Apple.

The developer beta of macOS Sonoma is available through the Apple Developer Program at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta will be available through the Apple Beta Software Program next month at beta.apple.com. The release will be available as a free software update this fall.

Related Forum: macOS Sonoma

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Top Rated Comments

tubular

45 months ago

Good to see them directly addressing games and -- critically -- the tools for porting to Metal, without which gaming is a dead issue.

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

ubername

45 months ago

This is Apple realising they’re going to struggle to get the VR/AR market unless they sort gaming out

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Gengar

45 months ago

Hopefully I can play The Sims 4 more smoothly now.

Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

NT1440

45 months ago

Gamers are the most annoying “tech” people.

Apple just gave everyone even more tools to do what people have been asking for, make it easier to get modern games into the fold.

The response: “har har, now I can play 10 year old games”.

Truly insufferable lot.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)