Blizzard VP Jeff Kaplan Says Company is 'Open Minded' About Bringing Overwatch to Mac

Wednesday May 17, 2017 11:42 AM PDT by Mitchel Broussard
In a new Q&A video from Wired, Blizzard vice president Jeff Kaplan responded to a list of user questions on Twitter, all centered around the company's popular first-person shooter Overwatch, which is currently available on PC, Xbox One, and Playstation 4. Ahead of the game's release, the company said that any development on Mac was not in the works and that focus would be on the other platforms.

Now, in response to a user asking if the game will ever be on Mac, Kaplan has said that Blizzard is "open minded" about bringing Overwatch to MacBooks and iMacs, although such development doesn't appear to be a priority.

User's question: Hi I was just wondering and I'm sure this question is kinda of annoying. Will Overwatch be coming to mac?

Kaplan's answer: I will not say that it's definite...that we will never be on Mac. We are open minded to it, we just need the priorities of our development process to line up with the capabilities of the platform in order for it to become a reality.
Kaplan's response is a bit non-committal, neither confirming nor denying whether players will ever be able to purchase Overwatch for the Mac, but it is at least nice hearing that the team behind the game continues to consider all platform options moving forward. It remains unclear what specific Mac-related limitations might be preventing Blizzard from pushing forward in Mac development on Overwatch, but from Kaplan's comments it appears that the team wants to ensure the game's quality before it would publish it on Apple's computers.

Blizzard has supported Apple devices for many of its previous games, including bringing Hearthstone to iOS and Mac, as well as launching Heroes of the Storm on Mac. Overwatch runs best with a consistent frame rate due to its fast-paced gameplay, particularly during competitive season games, but some lower-end PCs have been able to run the game with concessions in graphics and resolution.

The Mac-related question appears at 12:45 in Wired's new video.

Tags: Blizzard, Overwatch
62 comments


Top Rated Comments

(View all)
Avatar
Quu
20 months ago
The game should come to macOS but Apple first needs to get real with the graphics accelerators they are shipping in their Macs.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
jim001
20 months ago
I would love to see Overwatch on Mac as I am getting a little tired of it on the PS4.

Maybe if Apple would update OpenGL from version 4.1 that was released in 2010 we could have some nice things.

We are the ones that are getting hurt because Apple wants everyone to use Metal. Blizzard was one of the companies that show cased Metal when it was announced and they don't even want to use it.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
ActionableMango
20 months ago
"we just need the priorities of our development process to line up with the capabilities of the platform"

Translation: It's not coming to Mac.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
Janichsan
20 months ago

Blizzard ported StarCraft 2 to Metal too… so it's not like they don't have the resources to do it.

StarCraft 2 is a game that was specifically designed to run on the widest range of hardware as possible, including better pocket calculators. Before Blizzard added the Metal renderer, it ran without problems and without any limitations on OpenGL 2.1. That's an 11 year old standard. Porting that to Metal poses not much of a challenge.

Overwatch on the other hand was designed from ground up for DirectX 11, a far more modern and advanced graphics API and would require a similarly modern and advanced API for macOS.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
star-affinity
20 months ago

What was once a user friendly company which released quality games, has become nothing more than another company which focuses on pumping out in-app purchase games.


Can't say that I agree. While the in-app purchases are there in some games I also have a strong impression that they're developing, maintaining and improving their games.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
Xavier
20 months ago

I just want Halo on the Mac like in the olden days.


HaloMD ('https://www.halomd.net')
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
gim
20 months ago

Why do this? Macs are NOT for gamers, and this game is far from casual.

Waste of time and money, in my opinion.


How in the world is Overwatch not casual? It's a typical Blizzard game, meaning it's easy to learn, but hard to master. So yeah, it definitely can be a casual game. I play it once or twice every two weeks and it's fun.

You don't have to be a "gamer" to play on occasion. Even Macs with integrated graphics are capable of playing this game...

Only thing that's a waste of time here is your comment.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
btrach144
20 months ago
Mac needs more games!
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
iBug2
20 months ago
Blizzard is probably waiting for the next Metal update from Apple. This years Metal should be feature comparable to Vulkan and DirectX 12.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
macduke
20 months ago

Still salty about that one.

[MEDIA=youtube]6eZ2yvWl9nQ[/MEDIA]

Yeah, that one hurts. Halo is what helped jump start the Xbox. If Apple had locked it down, gaming on the Mac might have been more prolific today. But that would also mean that Apple would have cared, and they never really have until iOS. If they just put in a little effort I think things would be much better for gamers on the Mac.

By the way, I love your signature. I might have to copy it, as I get called out by moderators when I tell people I'm ignoring them. This seems like a good compromise!
Rating: 1 Votes
[ Read All Comments ]