Mac game exclusives: Yay or nay?

[vgmaster]

Do you think the Mac should have its own game exclusives to compete with the PC? Back in the 90s there were tons of different Mac games, like Bungies Marathon series. I think it would be a very interesting, though controversial move. Think it's a good idea? Think it's totally asinine?

[Tornado]

Why would a publisher want to commit financial suicide?

[Komodin]

Wait a minute...wouldn't this be pretty much financial suicide for those who wish to pursue this for some God-unexplained reason? Most Mac users, already a relatively niche market, aren't gamers, so making games exclusive to Mac software would be a... most unwise maneuver, to say the least.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Bad, baaaadd decision. While I love Apple's iPhone, Apple's price for their stuff is ridiculous. And I can't see people playing Mass Effect or CoD on a Mac (I know it's possible but it doesn't feel right). Macs are mainly used for graphical and photo software. Oh and iTunes and Safari.

If you are a gaming developer and if you're smart, you will never develop a potential AAA game that will become a Mac-exclusive game. You can develop a MAC/PC version of the game, that's fine, but Mac-exclusive? Even Apple were smart to develop iTunes for Windows. Imagine if they make iTunes exclusive to Macs. I would have gotten Samsung Galaxy II instead.

One thing I like about the Macs though, is that they are so freaking stylish. They have the best design for laptops, notebooks and desktops IMO.

Edited April 3, 2012 by Ming Ming Love

[Candescence]

Oh, good grief, no. Financial reasons aside, as a rule of thumb, if your PC game has a Mac version, it'll probably also have a Windows version, because only Windows has an OS-exclusive multimedia APIs - multiplatform games either use OpenGL, SDL, etc.

Speaking of OpenGL, the only reason DirectX is used more is because Microsoft likes to demonize it whenever it can, and try to claim that DirectX is better, when it's actually not true - DirectX and OpenGL are more or less no better than each other, but OpenGL has the advantage that it's not OS-exclusive, meaning you can run games on so much more than just Windows.

[Scott]

Do you think the Mac should have its own game exclusives to compete with the PC? Back in the 90s there were tons of different Mac games, like Bungies Marathon series. I think it would be a very interesting, though controversial move. Think it's a good idea? Think it's totally asinine?

Buuuut, but Marathon...sucks.

Like seriously, I bought it on XBLA and didn't find it very fun :/ Was told it was pretty much the Halo before Halo but no...It was terrible, not even good when compared to Old skool shooters of the similar calibre.

Other than that, Mac exclusive is a silly idea

[SuperStingray]

Why would a publisher want to commit financial suicide?

Pretty much this. Mac owns, what? 10 or 15% of the OS market? Windows is not only generally easier to develop for, but has to hold at least 3/4s of the market share; porting a game to the OSX isn't necessarily a bad move, and Steam's given developers a bit more of an incentive to do so with its recently implemented cross compatibility, but there is no reason for a third-party developer to make a Mac-exclusive game.

[Starman Swift]

Even if it wasn't financial suicide, like everyone else is pointing out, do we really want to split gamers into more factions? PC vs. Consoles is enough, but putting PC vs. Mac again? Owning a PC and console is easy enough, but I wouldn't want to have to buy a whole new computer so I can play games I would otherwise miss out on.

[novelty]

The only reason games should be Mac exclusive is when they reflect the games on the iDevices.

[Mick]

Mac game exclusives are not going to make a difference at all in the video game industry. They do better in other areas.

[Strickerx5]

I think having a company only make exclusive games for it would be a bad idea. This has been an idea that has been executed more than once with varying results (not a lot of them being good). Now I wouldn't say that there isn't a market here, macs are extremely capable machines and could run a lot of games. There are also a lot of people (including myself) that would love to play a good game on the mac. Playing on a computer always presents a few more possibilities than playing something on a console (mainly due to a computers manipulative interface). I think a better idea would be to actually have more games like portal that can be played on both a mac and a pc.

I really don't know why companies don't do this more often. I would be lying if I said I wouldn't like to try generations out on a mac. I really want to know exactly how hard it is to bring something already on a pc over to a mac. It couldn't be any more difficult than making something for the 360 and porting it to the PS3 and pc, and yet companies to it all the time. I do believe there is a market here but just not one big enough to sustain an exclusive release. It would be even bigger if people actually saw games they wanted to play out for it. I really do hope that companies in the future realize this and start releasing mac versions. It would do little to harm them and would more likely help them in sales.

[Speederino]

No. I definitely like how more and more games are getting Mac ports, but even Mac-users like me just install Windows on Bootcamp for all their gaming needs. Making a Mac-exclusive game is completely pointless.

[Eternal EX]

Am I the only one who thought that EA was giving Mac from SSX his own spinoff game when I saw this topic?

>.>

<.<

Guess so. *leaves*

[Kiah]

No. I definitely like how more and more games are getting Mac ports, but even Mac-users like me just install Windows on Bootcamp for all their gaming needs. Making a Mac-exclusive game is completely pointless.