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Apple may have great news for Mac gamers at its ‘Scary Fast’ event

Alex Blake
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Apple’s “Scary Fast” event is just around the corner, and we already know Macs will be the focus. But a claim has just been made that Apple will dedicate much of the October 30 show to Mac gaming, which could be good news for anyone who enjoys playing games on Apple’s computers.

That’s the assertion made by MacRumors, and the news outlet puts forward several pieces of evidence to back up its ideas. In the end, it makes a lot of sense — but there’s still no definitive proof.

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One of the hints MacRumors cites is the A17 Pro chip inside the iPhone 15 Pro. This chip comes with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and Apple made a point to emphasize its gaming chops during the company’s September event. That chip is built with the same 3-nanometer tech as we’re likely to see in the M3 chips rumored to debut at Apple’s “Scary Fast” event, suggesting hardware ray tracing — and games that utilize it — could soon come to the Mac.

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As well as that, Tim Millet, Apple vice president of platform architecture, has previously gone on record saying that the company is working with developers to bring flagship AAA games to the Mac. Combined with the launch of Game Mode and the game porting toolkit in macOS Sonoma, Monday’s event could be the perfect time to demonstrate new games running on new Macs.

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An event to savor?

Gaming on Apple's Macs being presented at WWDC 2023.
Apple

There are more clues available when you look outside Apple’s four walls, MacRumors claims. For one thing, game developer Capcom recently revealed that Resident Evil Village would be available on iPhones and iPads on October 30 — the same day as the Apple event. This could be a coincidence, or it could foreshadow some sort of Mac gaming tie-in at the show.

Similarly, Sony is also planning to launch a cloud streaming service for PlayStation 5 games on October 30, potentially hinting at a coordinated reveal alongside the Apple event. That said, the shared date could simply be a fluke.

Finally, MacRumors claims that a source has told its reporters that Apple has timed its “Scary Fast” event for 5 p.m. PT because it will “fall during business hours in Japan.” That’s important because the show will apparently include “a major tie-in with a Japanese game developer” — which could mean Capcom or Sony (but is more likely to be the former given that Sony usually focuses on gaming hardware over software).

At the end of the day, most of this information is fairly speculative, and there has been no confirmed proof that Apple’s event will focus on Mac gaming. But as MacRumors has made clear, there are plenty of hints that that could be the case. If the outlet is correct, it might be an event to savor for Mac gamers.

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Alex Blake
Alex Blake
Computing Writer
In ancient times, people like Alex would have been shunned for their nerdy ways and strange opinions on cheese. Today, he…
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