Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition has received the recognition of being nominated for the Mac Game of the Year at this year’s App Store Awards. Cyberpunk’s official Twitter account shared this good news and let all the fans of the computer version of the game, which has been spectacularly reviewed, that the game has been nominated. Also, this naming is taken as a further proof of the exceptional revival of the game since its troubled launch in 2020.
So, the official Cyberpunk account announced the news almost at the beginning of the day in all the Night City slang they usually use. They let the Mac “chooms” – that is how they refer to friends in their strange future-speak – know about the nomination and ask to keep their “chromed-out fingers crossed.” It is quite a wild sight to see the drastic change the game has undergone – from being a mess it was often ridiculed for to being worthy of an award nomination on Apple’s platform. The Ultimate Edition includes the base game plus the Phantom Liberty expansion, which is an area where most players have honestly given their opinion that it was the one that saved the whole lot anyway.
The reception by the gamers has been… kind of varied but mostly positive? There is a comment section thread where people are puzzled with what is actually happening. A few guys thought that this was an indication that Cyberpunk was coming to iPhone or iPad, which is of course not the case – this is for Mac computers only. Karan was the one who directly said “who in their right mind would want to play this amazing game on a fucking iphone?” which is definitely a reasonable argument. The Mac version has indeed been available for some time now, but I suppose not everyone knows about it yet.
Then again, there was the performance issue that came up during the discussion. A commenter using the name William Cunningham asked whether Intel Macs would be supported, and a person using the name Delta jumped in to clarify that it is primarily for Apple’s M-series silicon chips, with Tahoe being the last supported version for Intel Macs. If you are still on an old-school Intel Mac from before the game was released, good luck trying to run it properly. The requirements are actually very detailed and demanding.
The topic of price also came up inevitably. Lexgotti mentioned the pricing problem, but Delta replied that it is “more than reasonable,” particularly when it is on sale “like every other week.” Of course, this is true there have been numerous instances of Cyberpunk going on sale and so many that it has become almost like a permanent discount. The Ultimate Edition includes everything in one bundle, which is great value if you are one of the lucky ones that get one of those sales.
The inquiries about performance never seemed to die down. Android Velma asked whether the game crashes or gets down-graded on Mac devices which is a legitimate concern having in mind the game’s history. Yoav Karmona just wrote “30 fps?…” and that alone says what people expect from gaming on Mac hardware. Can Apple computers give the performance that Cyberpunk requires without major compromises at all? This is the main question that everyone is looking for an answer to.
There were also some very funny reactions. One guy by the name of offmetagod was like “Mac can run cyberpunk?!?” being genuinely surprised and another user called Yaの閃光玻璃杯 responded with a laughing emoji that they have actually been playing it on their Mac recently. A French user named Tayc est une merde was wondering whether playing Cyberpunk on Switch or Mac was the same level of pain and described himself as a sadomasochist saying he wouldn’t mind making his eyes bleed by playing it. Apparently, the dedication to suffering for games is real!
In addition, there was the debate on Linux ports, with Delta saying that it runs well through Proton and native Linux ports are often the worst versions anyway. So, for this reason, Linux gamers are not losing out much. Then, Jed was out there begging for an iPhone port, saying he would buy it the very first day if it was released for iPhone 16 or 17. I mean, can you even think of playing Cyberpunk on a small phone screen? The user interface would be so tiny.
What is really interesting is that this nomination is a sign of the changes in the gaming environment. Long ago, Mac gaming would never be considered, but this and other major titles moving to Apple’s platform have made it a very attractive option for macOS users. The App Store Awards are a significant event in the Apple ecosystem, so this nomination may lead more people to realize the existence of gaming on Macs in general.
The whole Phantom Liberty expansion and the 2.0 update transformed Cyberpunk into what originally people thought it would be. Ultimate Edition is all that merged into one and now it is recognized within the same category as other big games. It is quite impressive when you consider the incredible turnaround from CD Projekt Red, the developers who stuck with the game through all its troubles. The PlayStation and Xbox versions also benefited from these updates, creating a unified experience across all major platforms.
