As part of this longer post on my purchases from the Mac App Store over the last seven years, one particular bit really struck me: Based on my purchases, at least, there are a a lot of rarely-updated apps—and games in particular—in the Mac App Store.
Mac App Store is the simplest way to find and download apps for your Mac. To download apps from the Mac App Store, you need a Mac with OS X 10.6.6 or later. Mac games have always existed, but game stores rarely stocked them. So there has always been something of a weighting against the Mac as a game platform because of a lack of visibility. Of course, the app store solves that, and so Mac gaming will probably become a huge growth area this year.
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Of the 116 purchases (or free downloads) I've made since the App Store opened, 90 are still available in the App Store today. At first glance, that seems pretty good—78% of what I have is still in the App Store. But it doesn't look quite so good if I examine when each of those 90 apps was last updated:
Yes, 51 of those 90 apps (57%) have been updated within the last year, and that's good. But what's not good is that the remaining 39 apps (43%) haven't been updated in at least a year—and of those 39 apps, 21 of them (over half!) haven't been updated in four or more years.
Digging into those 21 apps reveals that four of them are utilities, five are general use apps, and 12 of them are games.
The non-updated non-games
For the nine utilities and general use apps, not being updated in that many years means those apps aren't taking advantage of any new macOS features, they haven't updated their appearance to match Apple's evolving trends, and they may have new-macOS-related bugs that haven't yet been fixed. In my testing, though, all of these apps still ran just fine—just possibly lacking features and interfaces they'd have if they were updated.
It's possible that app sandboxing is preventing some of these apps from being updated: If they can't be sandboxed, then they can't get any updates that add new features. So they sit in the store, unable to be properly updated yet allowed to continue to be sold (as they predate the sandboxing requirement; we have a couple apps of our own in this category).
Beyond sandboxing issues, perhaps the apps' sales figures don't merit the effort needed to update, or the developers have moved on, or whatever. These apps, generally speaking, probably could be updated but haven't been for whatever reason. But the games…the games are a different story.
The problem with the games
Of more interest to me are those 12 games that haven't been updated in at least four years. In particular, eight of those 12 are still 32-bit apps, which is a big cause for concern for a couple of reasons.
Apple has said that, starting this fall, 32-bit apps 'won't run without compromise', and we don't yet know what that compromise might entail. But that's not the big problem.
This is the big problem: Apple's 64-bit requirement for App Store apps. It first states that all new App Store apps must be 64-bit after January of 2018, which won't affect these older games. But then it adds this tidbit about existing apps (emphasis added):
…and Mac app updates and existing apps must support 64-bit starting June 2018.
To me, that sounds like any 32-bit app in the Mac App Store as of June 2018 will be removed from sale—they separately call out updates and existing apps. Yikes! So why don't these developers just update their games to be 64-bit?
The problem with 64-bit and games
I spoke with a friend in the business of porting Mac games, and he explained some of the difficulties they're facing.
First off, many 3D games rely on the Havok Physics engine. Older games used an older version of the engine, which was given to porting companies only as a 32-bit binary. Those older games can't be updated to use the newer Havok engine without a major rewrite, nor can the engine be recompiled as 64-bit (because they only have the binary). Hence, those older games are stuck and will never have a 64-bit version.
Games that don't face issues with the Havok (or other bundled) engine still have troubles. If there's a multi-player component, there can be compatibility issues if the Mac app is 64-bit and the Windows version is 32-bit. Also, if the Windows source was 32-bit, generally the Mac version was kept at 32-bit too, because it's non-trivial to update the original code to 64-bit.
Things have changed a bit recently, as Apple's Metal is 64-bit only, but offers some nice performance increases. If a particular game will benefit greatly from Metal, the porting company will probably take on the work required to convert it to 64-bit.
Will older games be converted?
From talking with my friend, it would appear that older games using the old Havok engine won't ever (can't) be udpated. For other games that can be updated, the porting companies are faced with a time/money/resources question: Will converting an older game to 64-bit drive enough incremental revenue to make it worth the time and money involved in doing that conversion?
On a pure revenue basis, I find it hard to imagine the answer is 'yes,' because these are all older games. Old games aren't huge sellers to begin with, so it's doubtful that a sales pitch of 'Now in 64-bit!' is going to move many units.
Those who already own the game won't generate any additional revenue, yet they're the ones likely to complain the loudest when those games vanish or stop working. There's some value in keeping existing customers satisfied, but when it comes with a real world cost, that's another decision to be managed.
I imagine that each porting company will look at their top revenue-producing titles and some of those will get converted—some additional revenue will result, and some positive press may be gained. For the rest, though, we're probably looking at the end-of-life for a number of games—much as we saw with the PowerPC to Intel transition.
So if you enjoy games from the Mac App Store, you might check if they're still 32-bit. If they are, you might want to get some play time with them now, in case they disappear in June and/or stop working 'without compromise' this fall.
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Great apps for your Mac. Right there on your Mac.
The Mac App Store makes it easy to find and download Mac apps as well as widgets and extensions — like editing extensions for the new Photos app. You can browse Mac apps by category, such as games, productivity, music and more. https://isnayn.over-blog.com/2021/01/parallel-desktop-macbook.html. Or do a quick search for something specific. Read descriptions and customer reviews. Flip through screenshots. When you find an app you like, click to buy it. The Mac App Store has apps for just about everything and everyone. Here are a few of our favourites.
Best Mac App Store Games
Pages
Create beautiful documents, letters, flyers, invitations and more.
View in Mac App Store
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Make eye-catching spreadsheets and charts in just a few clicks.
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Keynote
Put together a presentation with captivating graphics and transitions.
View in Mac App Store
iBooks Author
Create stunning Multi-Touch books for iPad and Mac.
View in Mac App Store
Final Cut Pro X
Bring your film to life using revolutionary video editing software.
View in Mac App Store
Logic Pro X
Turn your Mac into a complete professional recording studio.
View in Mac App Store
Wunderlist
Manage and share your to‑do lists across all your devices. View in Mac App Store
Evernote
Take notes, save web pages, create lists, attach images and PDFs, and more. View in Mac App Store
Cobook Contacts
Find, organise and keep your contacts up to date in even easier ways. View in Mac App Store
Things
Mac App Store Games With Controller Support
Keep track of to-dos, deadlines and projects with this task manager app. View in Mac App Store
Notability
Annotate documents, record lectures and take notes with this all-in-one app. View in Mac App Store
Autodesk SketchBook
Take your ideas further with a complete set of digital drawing tools.View in Mac App Store
Day One
Keep a journal that sends reminders and looks great in day or month view. View in Mac App Store
See something you like? Save interesting articles, videos and web pages for later. View in Mac App Store
The Photo Cookbook
Follow over 240 easy‑to‑prepare recipes picture by picture. View in Mac App Store
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Choose specially curated wallpapers from a new artist each week. View in Mac App Store
Tonality
Create inspiring black-and-white images on your Mac.View in Mac App Store
swackett
Get visual weather reports that turn complex data into fun infographics. View in Mac App Store
Sky Gamblers Cold War
Rule the action-packed skies in over a dozen different aeroplanes. View in Mac App Store
Sparkle 2
This easy-to-play but enthralling game makes the most of the Retina display. View in Mac App Store
Bike Baron
Beat hundreds of challenges as you master over 100 different bike tracks. View in Mac App Store
Civilization V: Campaign Edition
Build and defend the most powerful empire the world has ever known. View in Mac App Store
Galaxy On Fire 2™ Full HD
Battle your way through a 3D war-torn galaxy against an alien armada. View in Mac App Store
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition
Build a city from the ground up and manage your metropolis in every way. View in Mac App Store
Money
Set a budget, schedule payments and track investments — all in one app. Call of duty black ops 3 apple. View in Mac App Store https://booksvamcallgang1975.mystrikingly.com/blog/sketch-53-20.
MoneyWiz – Personal Finance
View all your accounts, transactions, budgets and bills in one secure place. View in Mac App Store
iBank
Manage your money with this fully featured, intuitive personal finance app. View in Mac App Store
Set a budget, schedule payments and track investments — all in one app. Call of duty black ops 3 apple. View in Mac App Store https://booksvamcallgang1975.mystrikingly.com/blog/sketch-53-20.
MoneyWiz – Personal Finance
View all your accounts, transactions, budgets and bills in one secure place. View in Mac App Store
iBank
Manage your money with this fully featured, intuitive personal finance app. View in Mac App Store
Next - Track your expenses and finances
See your expenses by year, month or day, and take control of your finances. View in Mac App Store
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Monitor your portfolio of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and more. View in Mac App Store
StockTouch
Keep track of the market in a whole new way. View in Mac App Store
djay
Mix songs from your iTunes library and spin live on a digital turntable. View in Mac App Store
Sound Studio
Record, edit and produce digital audio. Create your own mixes and add effects. View in Mac App Store
Shazam
Like what you hear? Identify a song at a moment's notice. Then share it or buy it. View in Mac App Store
Tabular
Read and write tablature notation for guitar, bass, drums and more. View in Mac App Store
AmpKit
Turn your Mac into a powerful guitar amp and effects studio. View in Mac App Store
Sound Forge 2
Record, edit, process and render high-resolution audio files. View in Mac App Store
Install any app with ease.
The Mac App Store revolutionises the way apps are installed on a computer — it happens in one step. Enter the same iTunes password you use to buy apps and music on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or iPod touch. Within seconds, your new app flies to Launchpad, ready to go. So you can spend more time enjoying new apps and less time installing them.
Keep your apps up to date.
Since developers are constantly improving their apps, the Mac App Store keeps track of your apps and tells you when an update is available — including OS X software updates. Update one app at a time or all of them at once, for free. You can even have your apps and OS X update automatically, so you'll always have the latest version of every app you own.
The app you need. When you need it.
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Buy, download and even re-download.
You can install apps on every Mac authorised for your personal use, and even download them again. This is especially convenient when you buy a new Mac and want to load it with apps you already own.
From the Mac App Store
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