Not one but two of the games from The Witcher franchise are now playable on Apple silicon Macs and macOS Ventura, but fans of the series might be disappointed by a notable omission.
In a recent announcement from the official The Witcher X account, the team behind the game confirmed that The Witcher 1 and 2 are now available to play on M1 and M2 Macs via Steam, GOG, and the App Store but The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the studio’s most popular title in the franchise, is noticeably missing. Neither The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, nor CD Projekt Red’s most recent game Cyberpunk 2077, are available on Mac right now but this recent support could be indicative of an update further down the line.
As they are older titles, The Witcher 1 and 2 are technically a bit easier to run so may have required fewer resources to get up and running on Mac devices. Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit makes this kind of optimization much easier too. With the right support, we could see much more in the future.
While Apple silicon support technically means you'll be able to play this on Apple's M1 MacBook Air — the chances are you'll need one of Apple's best MacBooks to play it, such as the new M3 Max MacBook Pro. If you haven't taken the plunge with Apple silicon, then the best Black Friday MacBook deals could save you a big chunk of money on one.
Old but Gold — iMore’s Take
Though The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the most popular game in the series, don’t miss out on the older titles. The first Witcher game is definitely flawed but the story and atmosphere are still top-notch and well-loved by its relatively smaller fanbase.
The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings strikes a balance between the janky darkness of the first game and the polish of the third, with more involved RPG elements, a much bigger world, and a winding and complex story. Its graphics are a little dated but the story isn’t. If you have tried out the third Witcher game but never decided to go back and play the older titles, now is the perfect time.
