The list of big native Mac releases between now and the end of 2026 is short. Football Manager 27 arrives on 10 November on PC and Mac. Remedy has promised the Mac version of CONTROL Resonant before the year is out, without a date. Crimson Desert, already one of the best native games on Apple Silicon, gets its first expansion on 15 October. That is most of it.
Everything else on the late 2026 calendar is a Windows or console release. Some will run in CrossOver, some are blocked by anti-cheat and will be streaming only, and the biggest of the lot, Grand Theft Auto VI, is not coming to PC at all for now. Here is what is on the way, and the realistic way to play each one on a Mac.
Football Manager 27: 10 November
Sports Interactive has confirmed Football Manager 27 for 10 November on PC and Mac, through Steam, the Epic Games Store and the Xbox PC app, priced at £49.99. A Launch Preview should open one to two weeks before release, and PC Game Pass subscribers get it from day one.
This is the safest bet on the list. The series has shipped on the Mac for years, and Football Manager 2024 has a universal build that runs natively on Apple Silicon. If you are buying one new Mac game before Christmas, this is the one with the least risk.
One small caution. Sports Interactive has not published Mac system requirements yet. Wait for the store page to list them before you pre-order on an older Mac, in case the minimum macOS version moves up.
CONTROL Resonant: Mac version due later in 2026
CONTROL Resonant launched on 24 September on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Remedy has said the Mac version through Steam and the Mac App Store will follow later in 2026, and that has not changed. There is still no date.
Until it lands, GeForce NOW has carried the game since launch, so you can stream it on any Mac today. The first game, Control Ultimate Edition, already has a native Apple Silicon build, and it is the best way to fill the gap.
Crimson Desert: Charting the Unknown, 15 October
Crimson Desert is a native arm64 game and one of the strongest showcases for Apple Silicon this year. Its first paid expansion, Charting the Unknown, is due on 15 October. Reports tracking the Mac version say it will be on Steam for Mac at launch, but not on the Mac App Store straight away, because the App Store build has been running behind Steam on patches.
If you own the base game on Steam, you should be fine on day one. If you bought it on the Mac App Store, expect to wait a little. Check the expansion's App Store listing before you buy.
New Macs at the end of October
This matters more than any single game if you are planning a purchase. Apple has said the Mac Studio with M5 Ultra arrives in late October. MacRumors reports that M6 versions of the base 14 inch MacBook Pro and the iMac are the most likely companions, along with rumoured OLED MacBook models. Treat the M6 machines as likely rather than certain until Apple announces them.
A new chip generation tends to push the price of the outgoing models down, so even if you do not want an M6 Mac, waiting a few weeks may get you an M5 machine for less. Our compare tool shows how each Mac handles the games you care about, and My Mac checks your current machine against every game in the database.
Windows releases you will stream on day one
Most of the autumn's big launches are Windows only. For brand new releases, cloud streaming is nearly always the first thing that works, because the game runs on real Windows hardware.
GeForce NOW has confirmed several for launch day. Planet Zoo 2 and Valor Mortis arrive on 13 October, and Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 on 14 October. The original Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun runs well through CrossOver, so the sequel is worth trying locally later, but streaming is the safe day one route.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on 23 October. Do not plan on playing it locally. Recent Call of Duty games use Ricochet, a kernel level anti-cheat that rules out CrossOver and Parallels, and the site lists the recent entries as streaming games. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III streams well on GeForce NOW, and Call of Duty has usually appeared on Xbox Cloud Gaming too. Expect the same for Modern Warfare 4, but check which service has it before you pay for a subscription.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse arrives on 15 October and Phantom Blade 0 on 29 October, both on PC. Neither has a Mac version, and neither has been confirmed for a streaming service yet. These are the two to watch rather than buy on launch day.
Path of Exile 2 reaches 1.0 in December
Grinding Gear Games has set 11 December for the full 1.0 release of Path of Exile 2, which leaves early access and goes free to play on the same day. There is no Mac version. Today Path of Exile 2 runs on the Mac through CrossOver, and our data rates GeForce NOW as a compromised experience for it, so CrossOver is the route we recommend. Big launch patches are when translation layers tend to break, so give it a few days after 11 December before you rely on it.
The original Path of Exile has a Mac build, but it is Intel only and runs through Rosetta 2. That is fine on macOS 27, but Apple is cutting Rosetta back to a subset aimed at older games from macOS 28 next year, and nobody knows yet which games that subset will cover.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV, 3 December
Dawn of War IV is due on 3 December, on PC only. No Mac version has been announced. Feral brought earlier games in the series to the Mac, and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Anniversary Edition still runs through Rosetta 2 today, but there is nothing to suggest a Mac port of the new game is planned. Wait for CrossOver reports or a streaming listing.
Grand Theft Auto VI: 19 November, consoles only
Grand Theft Auto VI is set for 19 November on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Take-Two has said it is on track for that date. Rockstar has not announced a PC version, so you cannot run it on a Mac. GeForce NOW and Boosteroid stream PC versions, so they cannot carry it either, and neither Rockstar nor Microsoft has said whether it will appear on Xbox Cloud Gaming.
If GTA VI is the reason you are thinking about new hardware, a Mac is the wrong purchase for it this year. Wait until a PC version is announced. Even then, GTA V Enhanced shipped with BattlEye, so local play on a Mac is far from guaranteed.
What to buy, and what to wait on
If you want a new game to play natively on your Mac before the end of the year, pre-order Football Manager 27 once its Mac requirements are published, and pick up Charting the Unknown on Steam if you already play Crimson Desert. For CONTROL Resonant, play Control Ultimate Edition now and wait for the native Mac release. For Modern Warfare 4, Boltgun 2 and the other Windows launches, a month of cloud streaming is cheaper than any workaround. And if you need a new Mac, hold off until Apple's late October launches.