Elden Ring has been on everyone’s lips since its February launch. The game borrows what’s best from every FromSoftware’s project that came before it while immersing players in a massive world with tons of things to discover and levels to conquer.
Elden Ring is undoubtedly one of the must-have games if you are a Souls fanatic. If you are currently on a Mac system, you may be wondering if you can play Elden Ring on your device. Elden Ring is now available for Windows, PlayStation and Xbox consoles. But, we will show you how to play it on a Mac.
Can You Play Elden Ring on a Mac?
The short answer is YES. You heard it right. You can play FromSoftware’s latest game on a Mac machine. There is no Mac version of Elden Ring, so the only way to play the game is to install Windows on a Mac.
Can You Play Elden Ring On M1 Macs?
No, you cannot play Elden Ring on an M1-powered Mac at the moment. The reason for that is because the game will only work if you install Windows on macOS using Boot Camp, which is something an M1 Mac does not support.
If you now have the latest Mac systems like Mac Studio with either M1 Max or M1 Ultra, the game won’t work. This is because the game features a built-in Vanguard anti-cheat software which only supports running Windows in a Boot Camp partition.
Will Elden Ring Work in a virtual machine?
The only way to install Windows on an M1 Mac is to use a virtual machine such as Parallels or Windows emulators like Crossover. According to FromSoftware, the studio’s latest title will not work in a virtual machine that runs both operating systems simultaneously.
Since day one, the game’s Vanguard anti-cheat software has been causing some performance issues on other platforms, notably on PC. It requires a native Windows OS to work properly and won’t work in a virtual machine or a Windows emulator.
How to install Elden Ring on a Mac
If you are now on an Intel Mac, you can install and play the game using Boot Camp Assistant. However, not all Macs can run Elden Ring. We suggest you have a Mac with modern hardware to ensure the game runs smoothly.
Here are the specs we use In this tutorial
- A Mac Pro with a 3.2GHz 16-core Intel Xeon W CPU
- 32GB of RAM
- Two Radeon Pro W6900X with 32GB of GDDR6 memory each
- 1TB SSD storage.
First, you need to install Windows on our Mac model using Boot Camp. It’s best to go for Windows 10 rather than Windows 11, as the game has not been optimized for Windows 11.
We have a detailed guide for how to install Windows 10 on a Mac using Boot Camp, so make sure you check that out.
Once you are done installing Windows 10 on your Mac. Head over to Steam, purchase the game, and enjoy it on your Mac.
The game ran at an acceptable frame rate during our test, around 50 fps, with high presets and 2K resolution. We noticed some dips into 40 during intense combat scenes. There were also some bugs and glitches throughout our session. We recommend you go for a 1080p with medium presets to achieve a higher frame rate.
Can You Play Elden Ring on GeForce Now?
GeForce Now is Nvidia’s cloud gaming service that allows you to play a wide range of PC games even on low-end hardware, as long as you have a strong internet connection.
One of the main flaws of GeForce Now is that you stick with its library of games which refresh every month. This means that you play whatever it offers.
Elden Ring is not available on GeForce Now yet, so you cannot play it on a Mac using GeForce Now even if you own the game in your Steam library. The game is also not available on Google Stadia.
So, What’s The Best Way to Play Elden Ring on a Mac?
The only way to play FromSoftware’s latest title is to use Boot Camp on an Intel Mac. There are still lags and bugs, but it’s playable. If you are now on an Intel Mac, give it a try.
Remember that the game will not run on M1 Mac using a virtual machine like Parallels or a Windows emulator like Crossover. Any of your attempts will fail or even result in hardware errors.
