Starfield (Mac) 

Despite the lack of a confirmed release for Starfield Mac, enthusiasts hold high hopes, fueled by continuous advancements in cloud gaming technology and the recent introduction of the potent Apple Game Porting Toolkit. Bethesda’s much-awaited open-world RPG, Starfield, has yet to announce a Mac variant, leaving the community anticipating alternative avenues to dive into this universe without investing in a high-end gaming PC. In this discussion, we explore existing strategies that permit Apple aficionados to experience the latest Bethesda creation, albeit through limited yet promising means. Although options are currently sparse, the future seems bright with the expectation of a burgeoning array of Starfield Mac solutions emerging in the time ahead. Stay tuned as we unravel potential pathways to facilitate a seamless gaming journey on Mac.

Starfield on Mac

For those keen on experiencing Starfield on Mac, one direct pathway exists through utilizing the Xbox Cloud Gaming or GeForce Now services. By securing a subscription to the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate plan, individuals not only obtain the access to the much-anticipated game, but also gain a convenient solution to play Starfield on Mac without additional purchases. The inclusive package simplifies the process, only necessitating a robust internet connection and a game controller, the latter of which can be substituted with a browser extension that we’ve linked in our guide. Thus, this strategy emerges as a two-fold solution, offering access to the game while simultaneously presenting a viable method to enjoy it on Mac, promising gamers an uncomplicated and enjoyable gaming venture.

On the other hand, if you decide to play Starfield through GFN, then you’ll need to purchase the game separately.

Is there Starfield for Mac?

Currently, there is no native Starfield for Mac release, and in all likeliness, we won’t see one becoming available anytime soon. Despite this, hope persists for Mac users owing to various potential workarounds that can potentially facilitate the gameplay experience on macOS. As noted above, the XCloud and GeForce Now solutions stand as robust alternatives to bypass the unavailability of Starfield for Mac. Looking ahead, tools such as the remarkable Apple Game Porting Toolkit hint at promising prospects, offering a bridge for Windows games to macOS systems. Moreover, the inclusion of the title in the libraries of other popular cloud platforms such as Boosteroid remains a likely scenario, potentially broadening the pathways for enjoying the game on Mac.

Starfield macOS solutions

Due to the lack of a Starfield macOS version, your only way of playing the game on an Apple machine is through workaround methods. As noted, the use of the Xcloud and GeForce Now platforms offers a reliable and easy-to-use alternative that will work on any Mac, be it an Intel or an M1/M2-based, and provide decent performance regardless of the machine’s hardware specs. The downside is if you have a bad Internet, which will affect the streaming quality and in turn degrade the gameplay experience. Alternatively, Boot Camp is also a possible option, but one that can really only work on very high-end Intel Macs, since the game is particularly demanding, yet the Boot Camp method is only available for the older Mac models that are powered by Intel chips.

Starfield mac OS performance

The workaround method you pick will largely determine the Starfield mac OS performance you are able to get. Using Xbox Cloud Gaming, GeForce Now, or another cloud service once the game becomes available on other such platforms, will provide you with stable 60 FPS at 1080p resolution, provided that your Internet can support the streaming process. The cool thing about the Starfield mac OS performance with cloud gaming is that it won’t matter if your machine is a shiny new M1 or M2 MacBook Pro or a 10-year-old Intel-based MacBook Air – the image quality and FPS will stay the same as long as you have a decent Internet. With Boot Camp, on the other hand, you’ll need a really souped-up Intel Mac machine to have any chance at running the game with an adequate performance.

Can you play Starfield on Mac?

You can play Starfield on Mac by applying alternative methods, such as cloud gaming or, if you have a really powerful Intel Mac, Boot Camp. For the time being, the Xbox Cloud Gaming анд GeForce Now platforms are the only ones that let you stream the game, yet it’s expected that this will change soon, and then you’ll also be able to play Starfield on Mac with the help of other cloud services like Boosteroid. As for the options to play the game locally, they are currently very limited. We already mentioned the Boot Camp situation for Intel Macs and as for Apple Silicon models, users are still trying to get the game to run with the Game Porting Toolkit, but there hasn’t been any success thus far.

Starfield MacBook workarounds

Cloud gaming, through the XCloud or GeForce Now, is the definitive Starfield MacBook workaround at the moment. Also, there are pretty big indications that the game will also be added to the libraries of Boosteroid, providing Apple users with alternative options for cloud gaming. On the other hand, if you want to be able to download and run the game locally, there aren’t any worthwhile methods to do that at the moment. We held hopes that the powerful Game Porting Toolkit will provide a viable Starfield MacBook workaround, but it seems that there’s an obstacle to getting the game to run through it that may never be overcome. This means it’s likely that cloud gaming will remain the sole method for playing this game on Mac in the foreseeable future.

How about Starfield Mac M1 workarounds?

The good thing about cloud gaming is that it serves as both a Starfield Mac M1 workaround as well as a workaround for users with Intel Macs. With it, it doesn’t matter what the CPU of your Mac is or even if the computer has decent hardware specs. As long as your machine can run a browser like Chrome, Safari, or Edge, it can stream games through a cloud platform. And since Boot Camp isn’t available for Apple Silicon Macs, this is currently the only usable Starfield Mac M1 solution. And with XCloud, specifically, once you subscribe to the Game Pass Ultimate plan, which grants you access to the cloud platform, you’ll also directly gain access to the game, so you won’t even need to purchase it individually.

Starfield Game Porting Toolkit

It’s a bit of a shame that the Starfield Game Porting Toolkit workaround hasn’t worked thus far, because some of the higher-end M1 and M2 models would have likely been able to run it with decent performance. Apparently, the reason people who have tried it have not been able to get the Starfield Game Porting Toolkit method to work is the game’s AVX requirement. Since AVX isn’t supported by the ARM 64 architecture of M1 and M2 chips, it currently seems impossible to run this game on an Apple Silicon Mac even if all other requirements are met. We’ll keep researching this topic and if we learn about a breakthrough, we’ll be sure to update our post with the new information.

How to play Starfield on Mac?

To play Starfield on Mac, the option we recommend at the moment is to start a Game Pass Ultimate subscription on the Xbox site, which will simultaneously give you access to the XCloud service that enables you to stream the game, and it will also grant you access to the game itself so that you don’t have to purchase it separately. If you want detailed instructions on how to play Starfield on Mac using this method, check out the following guide. As for the GeForce Now and Boot Camp methods that we mentioned as a possible alternative for users with high-end Intel Macs, you can find an in-depth tutorial further down this page.

How to play Starfield with Xbox Game Pass

Step 1: Join the Game Pass

To immerse yourself in Starfield, initiate by enrolling in the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate plan. Press the button provided below, followed by the Join button. Log in with your Microsoft credentials (if you haven’t registered, you’ll be presented an option to establish an account). Hit the Join button again, adhere to the on-screen steps, pick your payment option, and input your specifics to commence the subscription.

Step 2: Engage with Starfield through Xbox Cloud Gaming

Next, to delve into the game using the Xbox Cloud Gaming service, proceed to the Xbox site, click Game Pass from the top, choose Xbox Cloud Gaming, and then opt for Play Now. Look for Starfield, select its title when shown, and then opt for Play with Cloud Gaming.

• Note 1: The XCloud service optimally functions with the Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers. Hence, it’s recommended to install them on your Mac and utilize the service via these browsers.
• Note 2: Interacting with XCloud necessitates a game controller. Lacking one? Integrate this browser extension to your Edge/Chrome, enable it, and as the game initializes, touch the screen’s center to initiate gameplay.

Step 3 (alternative to Step 2): Retrieve Starfield from the Xbox Game Pass

An alternative avenue to relish Starfield through Xbox Game Pass is to acquire its PC edition from the Xbox interface. Prior to this, you must install Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp (refer to the tutorial below).

Once Windows is operational, access the Windows partition, return to the Xbox site, navigate to Starfield’s page, and click Install To to get the game ready for play.

If you don’t want to get the game with the Game Pass Ultimate plan and prefer to purchase it separately to play it with GeForce Now, Boot Camp, or through another cloud service (when the game becomes available in other cloud platforms), you can purchase Starfield from here:

How to play Starfield with GeForce Now

For those of you who prefer Nvidia’s cloud gaming platform as an alternative way of playing Starfield on Mac, here is a detailed guide explaining how to set up your GeForce Now account, download the GFN client, and start your gaming journey:

How to play Starfield with Boot Camp Assistant

Lastly, we’ll provide a tutorial on Boot Camp Assistant, which will walk you through the steps of dividing your hard drive and setting up Windows 10 on one of those sections. Here, you can download and play Starfield. As previously mentioned, this approach is exclusive to Intel Macs and isn’t compatible with M1 or M2 models.

Starfield Reviewed by a Mac User

In the galactic expanse that is “Starfield,” one traverses the cosmos not unlike a British sunbather attempting to locate the ideal sunspot amidst the crowded parks on the first hot day of the year – perhaps slightly sunburned but tenaciously hopeful. This spacefaring voyage births from the mind’s canvas as you, the player, carve out your celestial persona from an amnesia-induced slate, granting an artisan’s touch to everything from physiognomy to your very ethos of space exploration.

My space scoundrel, a Han Solo doppelganger with a penchant for pistols and verbal volleys, embarked upon quests that sprinkled across the universe like stardust across the night sky. And while I wished for the autobiography of Chunks founder (a tome readily available in the game’s embryonic stages) to burgeon into a saga of interstellar factory explosions and dynasty discoveries, I remained sated by the caravan of unpredictable side adventures that unfurled.

Constellation, your forced-adoption space family, orchestrates a grand narrative, guiding you through a sphere inhabited by Libertarian Mud Cowboys, Infrastructure Fascists, and other vivid tapestries of faction entities existing in the urban hearts of the cosmos. But beware, for beneath the façade of grandiosity lies a familiar Bethesda jankiness, a ballet of haunted shop dolls giving you tasks with a clunky gracelessness only a parent could love.

Akila City’s guards carry whispers of bank robberies, painting a tableau that oscillates between the awe-inspiring and the trite. Neon, a city birthed from cyberpunk dreams on an oceanic globe, is a sight to behold, resonating with the hum of potential and pregnant with vibrant tales waiting to be unfurled in the muggy, teeming streets. Yet, venture further and the familiar sting of disappointment greets you, as grandiose tasks devolve into sensor placements and data collection soirees — an anti-climactic tango danced on more than one occasion.

The game’s cities are chiaroscuro canvases, where neon-drenched dreams coexist with the spectral echoes of the unfulfilled, the grandiose is juxtaposed with a distinct lack of reactivity, and individual tales burgeon in hidden corners. Yet one can’t shake off the tang of superficiality, as missions promising depth culminate in anticlimactic firefights and uncompelled choice.

A moment of praise must be reserved for the spaceflight, a dynamic ballet of fiery duels amidst heavenly bodies, a veritable stage where one commands their symphony of destruction with a ship crafted from sweat and pixelated steel. Here, amidst the cosmic orchestra, “Starfield” unfurls its most triumphant notes, a crescendo of kinetic, adrenal symphonies where dogfights echo with a resonance that could make even a hardened space vet’s heart swell with pride.

But alas, the grand opus soon fades into distant echoes as the vast cosmos forces players into an impassive waltz with loading screens and menus, a stark contrast to the free, adventurous spirit promised in its early overtures. Thus, despite a universe teeming with life, one finds themselves yearning for the lived-in hatred of Whiterun’s small-town disputes, a testament to the deeply ingrained human craving for vivid, grounded narratives.

And, of course, there’s also the issue we have with the lack of a Starfield Mac version. Sure, no one expected the game to be available for Mac and no one expects this to change in the near future, but considering the potency of the Apple Silicon machines we’ve had in recent years, it’s high time that we start seeing more major titles such as this come to macOS. As for the time being, the best Starfield Mac solution that we have remains cloud gaming.

Yet despite its shortcomings, the “Starfield” dance is one worth partaking in, a waltz of discovery where ambition, at times unfettered, crafts a vast tapestry of interstellar potential. It’s a sweeping symphony that might occasionally lose its rhythm, yet resounds with enough vivid notes to compel the dance of exploration.

For in this grand cosmic ballet, we find not only space scorpions and giant “buttplug” cacti inhabiting RNG planets, but also the quirky, the mysterious, the spectacular, and the humble, all resonating in a nebulous harmony that remains, albeit frustratingly, just out of reach.

Here in the frontier of human imagination, in the vast expanses of “Starfield’s” universe, we find ourselves caught in a relentless pursuit of the magical “what if?” — a journey into the unknown with no guarantee of reward, yet driven by the immutable, starry-eyed belief that somewhere out there lies a mission, a story, a secret waiting just for us, ready to resonate in unprecedented, galactic echoes of exhilaration.

In the end, “Starfield” extends an invitation to a dance of universes where moments of brilliance shine amidst a void of the unexplored, a dance that begs for a choreographer with a vision sharp enough to carve pathways of wonder through a cosmos yet untamed, yet undiminished in its raw, unyielding promise of adventure. It beckons with open arms, urging us to keep dancing, to keep dreaming, to forge our own paths in a vast, imperfect, yet tirelessly enchanting space opera that reverberates with an unmistakable whisper: the adventure is out there, waiting to be lived, waiting to be discovered, waiting for you.