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Comment by haunter | Hacker News Reader

Running iOS apps on the M1 Macs feels like such a game changer. Literally too cause a lot of games have been ported to iOS and now you can easily run them on Macs that were not possible before (Final Fantasy franchise for example). People can now play PUBG (although the mobile version but still). Fortnite (which have been removed but if you have downloaded it before you can still play it). And so many other games. I think the whole thing is not just a step but a huge leap forward. I really wonder what the future holds, just looking at the performance of the M1 chips. Wishful thinking but the fact that the Switch is also on the ARM platform I hope we will see more games on Mac. This feels like the 2007 iPhone moment again.

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Genshin Impact, which made $100mm in its first two weeks as a free-to-play game simultaneously released on iOS, Android, Windows, and PS4, is remarkably important in this context. If Apple can ride the "convergence of console gaming and mobile gaming" wave that Genshin has shown to be a path to massive profitability for AAA game studios, it can suddenly become a relevant platform for the next generation of games, while completely bypassing the chicken-egg problem of "we won't port games to Mac because the market for games on Mac is small."

Oh yeah totally forgot about and now people can play it on their Macs. Crazy moment really

I can't help but games that straddle the fidelity of the AAA space with the exploitative and all consuming monetization endemic to iOS are really the worst that gaming has to offer as a medium.

While there are plenty of impressive perks M1 has to offer elsewhere, trading OpenGL and 32-bit support for Arm & Metal means trading access from the most creative and innovative sector of the gaming industry (the indie & AA market) for the most derivative and exploitative (mobile titles).

I wonder if any game (or other) developers are going to have major heartburn over this.

"Woah, pricing/releasing this game this way was part of our mobile strategy, not our desktop strategy - how dare you run that game on a computer!"

I know not all iOS apps target all devices - some are iPad only, etc. Is Apple allowing developers to arbitrarily prevent their apps from running on Macs? Can an app tell it's running on a Mac rather than an iPad?

They'll just disable downloading it on macOS.

Android apps already run on Chromebooks, so maybe this situation has already come up? The performance is certainly better on M1 Macs, but the same situation is possible.

You can opt out of them being available on the Mac.

“All iPhone apps and iPad apps that run on Apple silicon Macs will be published automatically on the Mac App Store, unless you edit their availability. Edit Availability | Learn More”

In that case it's yet another case of some developers choosing to screw users over by crippling the features that Apple wanted to be available for everyone by default :(

(Fuck Google in particular for actively hindering iOS Picture-in-Picture for years)

I also have to think some apps just won't be nice to use without a touch interface

I‘m sure audio software developers will love it. FabFilter Pro Q costs 149€ on Mac and 33€ iOS, probably because they assume you can‘t really use it in a studio, which you suddenly could.

I‘m sure most developers will opt out soon enough though and who knows if it even works for Audio Units.

The Mac version being a plugin rather than an app makes a lot of difference, enough to make the price difference worth it, IMO.

100% agree. We still need to know two important things:

- Notification system integration

- File management integration

I think if they get that right Apple does indeed have a game changer.

Comparing Phone games to desktop ones is like comparing Modern art to finger painting. Sure, it kinda does look like Starry Night at first glance, but is it?

>Comparing Phone games to desktop ones

Yeah but where is the border? There are lot of games on iOS that are basically the same as on PC/consoles maybe with a different UI and lower graphics. But you get the same features and experience.

You can now play GTA San Andreas on your Mac cause it was released on iOS. And it's one of the best game ever https://apps.apple.com/us/app/grand-theft-auto-san-andreas/i...

Genshin Impact which is currently one of the hottest game? https://apps.apple.com/us/app/genshin-impact/id1517783697

I see no difference really

genshin impact basically sealed the deal for me

no point buying a nintendo switch much less a proper mac.

I can get by with non-apple silicon arm Chromebooks like the wonderful lenovo duet

Seal the deal? It looks like a crappy pay-to-win mobile game.

pay to win what exactly? its a ripoff of breath of the wild, and doesn't seem to have a clear winning state especially in the free single player campaign.

macos probably runs this now given its pretty popular on iPad right now. Open world games usually only launch on consoles/PC but unreal engine allows games like this to arrive on mobile platforms as well.

mobile games need to lose some of the stigma when they keep gaining console like titles in the app stores

Oh come on. GTA San Andreas is a great game, but it also came out for Play Station 2, 16 years ago!

There is some hope with games made specifically for controllers that are not hobbled by on screen controls but still. Claims of “console level graphics” are only true because a PS3 is a console, which is about the level of graphics an iOS device can handle.

You can play PC GTA San Andreas at >60 fps on a 10 year old laptop pulled from a dumpster.

I played it on my 2008 MacBook with a Core Duo when I first got it

I am wondering if this marks the death of Safari on the web tbh. That and most OS X apps.

If a user can download and run the Amazon Prime app, why bother supporting Safari? The App version supports detection of VPNs, supports analytics etc...

Same applies with Netflix, Disney+ etc...

Then there are the devs which have OS X and iOS apps. Why would they maintain two code bases when now they can just support the iOS app and work on both? The app itself will be more optimal because it's designed for ARM/mobile so is likely newer with a cleaner architecture.

> If a user can download and run the Amazon Prime app, why bother supporting Safari? The App version supports detection of VPNs, supports analytics etc...

At least for me, to purchase books on Amazon for my kindle app. Can't do that in the kindle app or prime app.

Apple will probably push to get a cut on every Mac transaction too at some point.

People who develop actual macOS apps usually like the native look and feel. SwiftUI made it relatively easy to have a single code base for parts and still have separate and distinct programs for iOS and macOS. This however only applies to new stuff. I dread the idea that people will start ditching the electron apps in favour of desktop hostile iPad apps.

It is definitely a big part. Considering there are over 600 million desktop Android emulator install, all thanks to Gaming. If Apple could gain those players that is some massive IAP revenue increase.

80% of the App Store Revenue are Gaming on both iPhone and Android.

Using apps designed for touch inputs without a touchscreen must be frustrating.

iOS 14 has improved controller support so I think it will translate to Mac as well when you play the game there. Fortnite switches automatically to controller mode when you connect one to your iOS device through bluetooth.

Fortnite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KsQ27Ddtyw

https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=hk2u622s

https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2020/10614/

Also I used the PS4 Remote Play with the Dualshock controller on Mac and it worked perfectly

https://remoteplay.dl.playstation.net/remoteplay/lang/en/ps4...

Couldn't agree more. If it goes right and works, the amount of functionality added is unreal

Do you have a m1 mac?? I thought they weren’t out yet, but you are talking like you are already running iOS apps on your m1??

A huge step forward into Apple’s prison complex maybe.

I’ll wait to use ARM on a desktop computer until an OS/platform with more freedom and a much better UI commonly runs on ARM. That will be Windows.

> That will be Windows.

The only operating system left that you still have to pay for and get third-party ads anyway, with ""telemetry"" you cannot permanently disable and an inconsistent Escheresque nightmare of a UI.

Pffft. As if you’re not paying for macOS when they charge you $400 for an SSD you could get for $200. If you insist that it’s actually free, then you’re the product and a tool for Apple to use.

You can turn off all telemetry [0] in the Windows Enterprise edition which can be purchased by anyone if they bother looking. Even if you couldn’t, anything is better than Apple’s prison and their woefully inadequate UI that everybody here has to spend time and money buying 3rd party apps to fix.

Also, next time you open up the app store that you have no choice in using on one of your iDevices or soon on your Mac, think about all the third party ads you’re definitely not looking at and all the telemetry that is definitely not being collected there.

[0] and “ads” if that’s what you call a single icon for a 3rd party app which only appears once after installation.

Just wanted to add the fact that Microsoft telemetry never stopped me from doing anything.

Meanwhile nobody can run any apps on their Macs right now because of Apple’s telemetry. Enjoy that!

> that you still have to pay for

You think you don't pay for mac OS?

> get third-party ads anyway

Not getting any? On start bar? It can simply be resized to hide ads.

> an inconsistent Escheresque nightmare of a UI.

Some FUD spread by apple fans. Windows, GTK, and QT are all pretty good. There may be small problems but the look and feel of UI is not why I buy a computer.

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