Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to Macs - could the M4 Mac mini be a PS5 Pro killer in 2025?

Is macOS gaming finally getting the attention it deserves?

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The critically acclaimedCyberpunk 2077from developer CD Projekt Red (CDPR) is making its way toAppleSilicon Macs next year - and I’m starting to wonder if Apple’s newly announcedM4 Mac mini($599 / £599 / AU$999) could compete with next-gen consoles like Sony’sPS5 Prowith more triple-A title additions like this.

The first-person action-RPG proved to be a monumental success on console and Windows PCs,despite a rocky launchthat sent the developer back to the drawing board. With the game now stable in terms of bugs and performance and boasting a kick-ass major expansion in the form ofPhantom Liberty, it appears that now is the perfect time for it to be ported to Macs.

Apple’s list of triple-A games is continuously expanding, as we’ve seen with theResident Evil 4remake,Death Stranding Director’s Cut, andBaldur’s Gate 3. Among this lineup, CDPR’sCyberpunk 2077is possibly the most demanding of all in terms of hardware requirements - but it seems like even the base M4 version of the new Mac mini will be able to handle all those virtual car chases and Braindances,based on its specifications.

Sony could be in big trouble if the cheaper M4 Mac mini outperforms the PS5 Pro

A big part of this is the fact that Apple hasfinallymoved away from 8GB of unified memory as the baseline for Mac devices - a nightmare for the gaming performance on the cheaper configurations of previous M-series Macs, since that RAM was shared between the CPU and integrated GPU. Now with the base M4 Mac mini rocking 16GB, high performance while gaming looks like a stronger possibility (though it’s still clear that Apple’s primary focus isn’t gaming right now).

Now, there is still a long way for Apple to go with gaming on Macs - specifically with games landing on the platform far later than on Windows PCs and consoles, and many gamers simply not recognizing it as a legitimate gaming brand. Despite this,Cyberpunk 2077’s additionis a huge indication of how great the new M4 chips could be for gaming.

The entry-level configuration of the M4 Mac mini is not only far more compact and also a bit cheaper thanSony’s PS5 Pro (which starts at $699 / £699 / AU$1,119.95), but on paper, it looks like it could potentially outperform the enhanced console. Of course, this might not translate into real-world superiority; optimizing a game for the PS5 is easier for developers, and the console’s bulky chassis means it has far better cooling than the tiny Mac mini. Still, Apple’s Macs are well within reach of providing strong competition in the gaming hardware scene, especially if game devs continue to port big titles to the platform.

We’ve already seen the level of backlash that came from the announcement of its price - there are a plethora ofWindows gaming PC builds, that can perform closely to the PS5 Prowithin a similar price bracket, so Apple’s Mac mini may leave many reconsidering the Pro console’s value and contemplating this tiny computer as their new living-room gaming machine…

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Isaiah is a Staff Writer for the Computing channel at TechRadar. He’s spent over two years writing about all things tech, specifically games on PC, consoles, and handhelds. He started off atGameRantin 2022 after graduating from Birmingham City University in the same year, before writing atPC Guidewhich included work on deals articles, reviews, and news on PC products such as GPUs, CPUs, monitors, and more. He spends most of his time finding out about the exciting new features of upcoming GPUs, and is passionate about new game releases on PC, hoping that the ports aren’t a complete mess.

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