'Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition' to hit Apple Silicon Macs in 2025
The futuristic, neon-lit world of Cyberpunk 2077 is officially coming to Mac, bringing Apple gamers an experience many have anticipated since the game's initial release.

Cyberpunk 2077. Image credit: CD Projekt Red
will launch in early 2025, available through the Mac App Store and Steam. It's exclusive to Macs powered by Apple Silicon, taking advantage of advanced hardware capabilities in Apple's M1, M2, and the new M4 MacBook Pro models.
The game supports path tracing and frame generation, which are essential for delivering intricate graphics and lifelike environments. Gamers will also enjoy Apple's Spatial Audio for immersive soundscapes that further enhance gameplay.
Apple Silicon's performance capabilities are increasingly optimized for gaming. The upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 release will use Apple's Metal graphics framework to improve performance and efficiency in resource-heavy applications.
Metal is a crucial component in running visually demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077. It enables developers to fully utilize the Mac's GPU. The collaboration between Metal and Apple Silicon aims to deliver seamless gameplay, stunning visual quality, and optimized power consumption.
For existing PC players, there's some good news. CD Projekt Red confirmed that players who already own Cyberpunk 2077 on Steam can access the Mac version without needing a new purchase.
Apple's recent rebranding of the Mac as a capable gaming machine aligns with CD Projekt Red's release. Historically, Apple computers were not considered gaming contenders due to inadequate hardware and software support for AAA titles.
The company's increasing focus on optimizing Metal and the enhanced performance of Apple silicon are rapidly transforming the computer gaming landscape.
Alongside the release of Cyberpunk 2077, Apple is gearing up for other major game titles to join the macOS platform. With Assassin's Creed Shadows and an expansion of Resident Evil 4 also expected on Mac in early 2025, the company's gaming strategy looks to grow further.
The popularity of these AAA titles on macOS could prompt even more developers to prioritize Apple compatibility in their gaming roadmaps.
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Comments
Hopefully AI-assisted software engineering will eventually make macOS and Linux ports easier. But publishers/developers still need to purchase the AI accelerators (not cheap) and employ qualified/experienced engineers to operate these AI tools. You don't just press the big green "Convert to macOS" button and grab a cup of coffee. Not yet at least.
Apple said they are using 2nd-gen raytracing cores in M4 so there must be some improvements there too. The MBP presentation said 2x faster raytracing cores.
In a compatibility layer, Cyberpunk runs pretty smoothly on the Max chips without pathtracing:
A native build should be faster than this.
This video shows the difference frame-gen makes, FPS goes up 50-100%:
Frame-gen is part of AMD's FSR3 and Apple's MetalFX is reported to be based on FSR so the Cyberpunk game will likely use a newer MetalFX. They may apply this to other games like Resident Evil so they run better on mobile.
This is also the same base engine as Witcher 3, which still doesn't have a native Mac port so at least now it has a Metal renderer and can be ported. Witcher 4 will use Unreal 5 so that will already be supported.
Pathtracing is the peak of real-time rendering and can do photorealistic rendering so if Apple can handle this, there's not a higher quality bar to reach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITHkwfqqtfY&t=5400s
On 1080p Ultra, no raytracing it's ~70-90FPS.
1080p Ultra with raytracing, it's ~40FPS.
1080p Ultra with path-tracing, it's ~20FPS.
These use FSR upscaling on quality mode so 0.67x 1080p (720p), without frame-generation turned on.
Factoring in overhead from the compatibility layer, this is similar performance to a 4070:
It starts around 20FPS native path-tracing. Upscaling (0.67x resolution) takes it to 35FPS. Frame-generation takes it to 60FPS.
Path-tracing will probably only be playable on the M3/M4 Max chips, maybe M3/M4 Pro if people would be ok with 30FPS or lower upscaling settings but when raytracing is off, it should be very playable on a wide range of Apple GPUs.