“Cyberpunk 2077,” which is the inspiration for one of Netflix’s best-reviewed TV shows, has been officially released on Apple hardware. You heard that right — the game is available on Apple’s own Mac App Store, in addition to popular PC gaming storefronts such as Steam, GOG.com, and the Epic Games Store. “Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition” is the version you’ll find there, and it comes with the well-received Phantom Liberty DLC.
Though 5 years late to the party, the release of CD Projekt Red’s dystopian sci-fi shooter on Mac is monumental, legitimizing Apple’s hardware in the eyes of PC gamers. You won’t see gamers flocking to Apple stores any time soon for Macs, but it’s a step in the right direction.
With this news, current Mac users may be wondering whether their Mac, Mac mini, or MacBook can run the game, which has become a go-to for benchmarking hardware due to the demanding nature of the graphics. If you have a 2020 Mac or newer, we have good news for you.
Only Apple Silicon Macs can play Cyberpunk 2077
“Cyberpunk 2077” can only be played on Apple’s M series chips. Older Macs with Intel processors are sadly out of the running. The good news is that all M series chips are supported, even the very first M1 chip, which was released around the same time as “Cyberpunk 2077” in 2020. The M1 MacBook Air is now the laptop almost everyone should buy, so if you have one lying around collecting dust on a shelf, bully for you.
To be more specific, “Cyberpunk 2077” runs on M1 Mac systems with at least 16GB of unified memory. This type of RAM is shared between the CPU and the GPU for higher efficiency. That said, it is possible to run the game on only 8 GB of unified memory, but it will probably lead to performance issues. For the best results, stick to the recommended system requirements. In addition to the 16GB of unified memory, you’ll also need 92GB of storage space and macOS 15.5 or later.
Performance is surprisingly good on older Macs
The minimum requirements won’t get you the best performance but will result in playable, mostly stable gameplay locked at 30 frames per second (FPS). With a mix of low and medium settings, an M1 Mac can run “Cyberpunk 2077” at a frame rate of 30 FPS. This is achieved through Apple’s MetalFX DRS upscaling feature, which is based on the open-source FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) technology from AMD. While this means you have to play at a resolution of 900p on M1 Macs for the best performance, the game is at least playable, and it doesn’t look bad, either.
Newer Macs — like the ones in the leaked Apple roadmap with more advanced M-series chips and more memory — will perform better. On higher-end M-series chips, like the M3 Ultra and M4 Max, you can expect to play at 1440p with a frame rate of 60 FPS, which is considered the standard for modern PC gaming. According to Digital Foundry’s benchmark of “Cyberpunk 2077” on Apple Silicon, the M4 Max is comparable to Nvidia’s RTX 4060 GPU, but Nvidia still has the upper hand when it comes to ray tracing. Ray tracing is possible on Macs, though it doesn’t look as good based on Digital Foundry’s findings. Ray tracing performance on Macs may improve when Apple starts supporting denoising while upscaling later this year with the release of macOS 26.
PC gamers may balk at the idea of playing “Cyberpunk 2077” on a Mac, but what Apple has managed to do is nevertheless admirable. For those who don’t want to deal with troubleshooting, driver updates, and random crashes, what Apple offers is an appealing alternative — one that is hassle-free and feels more like playing on your Switch 2.
