Apple’s New CEO Won’t Make Games—But He Can Make Macs Fit for Gaming WGB
Apple just made an important move: John Ternus, the company’s hardware chief, has been announced as Apple’s next CEO. It’s a big shakeup for a company that has spent years looking into services, but Ternus—closely associated with the era that ushered in the Mac revolution in Apple silicon—could be the kind of leader that moves Mac gaming forward. Let’s be clear: Apple isn’t going to retire the PlayStation or the Xbox. This is not a significant pivot in solid games. It won’t be developing big games, or running the latest Call of Duty on high settings. Instead, it’s about the fact that the current Mac foundation was built during Ternus’ time at the helm of hardware engineering—and that foundation could be a game-changer, even if we keep expectations tight.
I’ve been using a Mac for the past few years—it’s become my way of writing, my daily tasks, and every job that requires a reliable, smooth machine. And for all that, I love you. But when it comes to playing, it falls flat. I always go back to my Windows machine, where compatibility is a given, performance is a known value, and I don’t have to re-guess every topic. It’s not like I can’t play on my Mac for a bit, but it’s like trying to get the toaster running. A disaster. Is it usable? Of course! Is it cool? Yes. A bit fucking stupid? And yes.
That’s a gap Apple has been trying to close—slowly, carefully. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of major games that support the Mac. It’s not like every new title that supports the Apple platform, but it’s on the way.
During the time that Ternus has led hardware engineering, that change has begun to take shape. When Apple moved the Mac to its own silicon—starting with the M1 chip—it wasn’t just a performance bump. Apple silicon has given Macs a real boost in GPU capability. Suddenly, you have systems that can load serious graphics. They are not musical instruments, not in the traditional sense, but machines that make conversation possible at least.
That is not to say that Ternus alone drove every part of that change. But he’s been a key figure during an era when the Mac has become more powerful — and at worst, more like a platform he can support games in a meaningful way.
Apple’s latest gaming moves no longer feel random. The Apple Games app is a start, even if it’s still in the dark. Then there’s the Game Porting Toolkit, now in its third iteration, which—while not a silver bullet—is a clear attempt to reduce the friction of porting games to macOS. And Metal 4 continues to push Apple’s graphics API forward, slowly closing the gap between what Macs can do and what modern games expect.
Individually, none of this is a game changer. Together, they look like a foundation. The foundation. Trust.
And this is where Ternus’s position begins to matter. He doesn’t come in to “fix” games overnight, but he does is something stepping into the role of CEO at a time when the Mac has more power than ever, and when Apple is, quietly, putting the pieces in place. If Apple keeps moving in the direction it’s already headed, Ternus’ track record makes it a prime candidate to shift that direction a little more towards games, even if accidentally.
I can’t stress this enough: this does not guarantee a revolution in Mac gaming. Apple still prioritizes the iPhone and iPad, and it’s not going to abandon that golden goose. And it won’t suddenly go head-to-head with Sony or Microsoft in the traditional gaming space.
But if the Mac becomes a more reliable gaming platform—perhaps not a titan, but something you can recommend without caveats—it will be because of this hardware-led evolution. And with someone like John Ternus now directing the wider company, there’s at least a reasonable argument that this trend isn’t going away.
Indeed, the hope is that we can open Steam on Mac and see more games boasting macOS support. That’s a dream, and another dream of mine: calorie-free cookies that taste like the real thing. And let’s be honest, of those two dreams, one Mac has a higher chance of actually happening.
It is not revolutionary. It’s not even a guarantee. It’s just guesswork and coping and a little hope.
