Even though Apple’s transition from Intel to Apple silicon is nearly complete, we haven’t seen any real impact in Mac gaming yet.
So, it’s no surprise that Mac users rely on virtual machines and compatibility layers to play their favorite Windows games on their machines.
So, if you are someone who uses Crossover to play Windows games on your Mac, the developers have some good news for you.
Crossover is bringing DirectX 12 support to macOS
On June 1, 2023, the CodeWeavers (the developers of Crossover) announced that CrossOver 23 for Mac would ship with DirectX 12. The company has been working on bringing DirectX 12 support to macOS for almost two years, and it is expected to be available eventually. In the summer of 2023.
Gaming enthusiasts who use CrossOver to run Windows games on a Mac will benefit from DirectX 12, which offers improved performance and speed. The current version of Crossover uses DirectX 11, which Microsoft unveiled in 2009.
For those unaware, DirectX is a collection of APIs that deal with game programming and graphics on Microsoft platforms, including Windows and Xbox. And the latest version, DirectX 12, initially launched alongside Windows 10 in 2015.
How CrossOver’s DirectX 12 Support Will Affect Gaming on the Mac
As we mentioned, the native gaming options for Mac are not in the best of shape. Even though some believe that Apple silicon is the future of Mac gaming, macOS is not yet the go-to option when you need a wide variety of titles to play. However, Crossover’s introduction of DirectX 12 for macOS may create a worthwhile middle ground here.
Noticeable improvement in speed and stability
As you may have noticed, DirectX 12 is a vast improvement over the previous version, DirectX 11. According to several tests, DirectX 12 is 50-70% more efficient in terms of rendering speed and power consumption.
Hence, these improvements will be beneficial when you want to play a heavy-duty Windows game on your Mac using Crossover 23.
Native support for Apple Silicon Mac
CrossOver for Mac has had Apple Silicon support for a long time. In fact, the screenshot CodeWeavers published on their blog post talking about the DirectX 12 upgrade is of an M2-powered Mac running Diablo II: Resurrected.
Therefore, you can expect games running using the Crossover 23 to make the best use of both CPU and GPU resources. And the best part? Running games using a compatibility layer like Crossover is far more resource-efficient than virtual machine software like VMWare and Parallels Desktop.
So, instead of waiting for game developers to release an Apple Silicon-optimized version, you can use the Crossover 23 compatibility layer to run the Windows version of a game on your MacBook Pro, Mac Studio, Mac Mini, or iMac.
possible limits
It’s worth noting that Crossover 23 won’t enable DirectX 12 support for all Windows games from the start. Instead, the developer has said, a per-title method will be used. The first game to run on a Mac using DirectX 12 support will be Diablo II: Resurrected. The company will continue to add DirectX support to more games over time, and you can keep track of updates via the CodeWeavers blog.
So, while the news is exciting, you need to have a lot of patience before you can play your favorite AAA games on Mac using Crossover. But if you loved Diablo II: Resurrected, you can check it out when Codeweaver releases the first beta version of Crossover 23 in the summer of 2023. But we expect the developers to release a more stable version sometime this year.
The future of Mac gaming looks bright
At this point, we feel overwhelmed by the fact that you have multiple options for playing games on Mac. While we look forward to upcoming Mac-optimized games, it’s great that you don’t have to wait for them.
However, you must decide which is the best way to run Windows games on your Mac. For example, if you also want to run Windows apps on your Mac, you can choose Parallels Desktop instead of CrossOver.