The Mac has plenty of games, but it'll always get the short end of the stick compared to Windows. If you want to play the latest games on your Mac, you have no choice but to install Windows ... or do you?

There are a few ways you can play Windows games on your Mac without having to dedicate a partition to Boot Camp or giving away vast amounts of hard drive space to a virtual machine app like VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop. Here are a few other options for playing Windows games on your Mac without the hassle or expense of having to install Windows.

Also, if you want to install or run any Windows-only games, you will have to use the Steam for Windows application. Because of this, you will have to switch between your primary Steam for Mac application and your new Steam for Windows application depending on if the game you want to play is for Mac or Windows.

GeForce Now

PC gaming on Mac? Yes you can, thanks to Nvidia's GeForce Now. The service allows users to play PC games from Steam or Battle.net on macOS devices. Better still, the graphic power of these games resides on Nvidia's servers. The biggest drawback: the service remains in beta, and there's been no announcement when the first full release is coming or what a monthly subscription will cost.

For now, at least, the service is free to try and enjoy. All supported GeForce NOW titles work on Macs, and yes, there are plenty of them already available!

The Wine Project

The Mac isn't the only computer whose users have wanted to run software designed for Windows. More than 20 years ago, a project was started to enable Windows software to work on POSIX-compliant operating systems like Linux. It's called The Wine Project, and the effort continues to this day. OS X is POSIX-compliant, too (it's Unix underneath all of Apple's gleam, after all), so Wine will run on the Mac also.

Wine is a recursive acronym that stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. It's been around the Unix world for a very long time, and because OS X is a Unix-based operating system, it works on the Mac too.

As the name suggests, Wine isn't an emulator. The easiest way to think about it is as a compatibility layer that translates Windows Application Programming Interface (API) calls into something that the Mac can understand. So when a game says 'draw a square on the screen,' the Mac does what it's told.

You can use straight-up Wine if you're technically minded. It isn't for the faint of heart, although there are instructions online, and some kind souls have set up tutorials, which you can find using Google. Wine doesn't work with all games, so your best bet is for you to start searching for which games you'd like to play and whether anyone has instructions to get it working on the Mac using Wine.

Note: At the time of this writing, The Wine Project does not support macOS 10.15 Catalina.

CrossOver Mac

CodeWeavers took some of the sting out of Wine by making a Wine-derived app called CrossOver Mac. CrossOver Mac is Wine with specialized Mac support. Like Wine, it's a Windows compatibility layer for the Mac that enables some games to run.

CodeWeavers has modified the source code to Wine, made some improvements to configuration to make it easier, and provided support for their product, so you shouldn't be out in the cold if you have trouble getting things to run.

My experience with CrossOver — like Wine — is somewhat hit or miss. Its list of actual supported games is pretty small. Many other unsupported games do, in fact work — the CrossOver community has many notes about what to do or how to get them to work, which are referenced by the installation program. Still, if you're more comfortable with an app that's supported by a company, CrossOver may be worth a try. What's more, a free trial is available for download, so you won't be on the hook to pay anything to give it a shot.

Boxer

If you're an old-school gamer and have a hankering to play DOS-based PC games on your Mac, you may have good luck with Boxer. Boxer is a straight-up emulator designed especially for the Mac, which makes it possible to run DOS games without having to do any configuring, installing extra software, or messing around in the Mac Terminal app.

With Boxer, you can drag and drop CD-ROMs (or disk images) from the DOS games you'd like to play. It also wraps them into self-contained 'game boxes' to make them easy to play in the future and gives you a clean interface to find the games you have installed.

Boxer is built using DOSBox, a DOS emulation project that gets a lot of use over at GOG.com, a commercial game download service that houses hundreds of older PC games that work with the Mac. So if you've ever downloaded a GOG.com game that works using DOSBox, you'll have a basic idea of what to expect.

Some final thoughts

In the end, programs like the ones listed above aren't the most reliable way to play Windows games on your Mac, but they do give you an option.

Of course, another option is to run Windows on your Mac, via BootCamp or a virtual machine, which takes a little know-how and a lot of memory space on your Mac's hard drive.

How do you play your Windows games on Mac?

Let us know in the comment below!

Updated October 2019: Updated with the best options.

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On a Windows PC or a computer, it is comparatively easy to install and play games you like. Mac computers are best in productivity and in the design but since a long time Mac users have compromised on gaming. Well there is some good news, now even Mac users can enjoy best gaming on their Mac. Now Mac users have a dedicated revolutionary gaming store that is Steam. So, without further delay let’s look at some of the best games on Steam.

10 Best Games on Mac Steam in 2019

1. Killing floor

If you love to play horror games then killing floor should be the first choice. The game is a survival horror FPS in which you need to cleanse hostile creatures in an English countryside with your team of six which must work cooperatively. Completion of each round gives you money to upgrade your weapons. The quality of the game is proven by it being one of the most loved game since 2009

2. Besiege

If you know what is art of destructions then another best Mac game on Steam is Besiege. There is a lot of building and destruction involved. It can be an hour’s task or can also be ended earlier. We love the game because there is no need to be stuck on it for days or months to solve the mysteries. You can create something which is magnificent or something that will be destroyed by just pressing space bar. You can get it for $6.99 which is definitely worth considering what the game has to offer.

3. League of legends

League of legends is one of the most popular game people play online. There are around 68 million players who play this game. If we talk about MOBA world then this game is the perfect entry. This game is one of the top 10 Mac games for free to play and there is nothing to lose. You can spend hours playing this game and enjoying the new battle grounds.

4. Counter Strike: Global Offensive

When it comes to top steam games almost every gamer knows this game very well. Like it always happens in CS you have to join either terrorists or the counter terrorist team. You can choose from 5 different game modes and in all the modes you should defend yourself from getting killed, because in that case you need to wait until next round for re-spawn.

5. Team Fortress 2

The classic game Team Fortress doesn’t require an introduction. It is a team based game. Goofy and riddled it is a perfect pick for everyone. Despite the number of years that this game has been around for, it still has a growing fan base. In this game you will find different people with different weapons.

6. BioShock

BioShock is a FPS game and has been around from the last 10 years. It is compatible with multiple gaming platforms such as PlayStation Xbox. So, you may find large number of online partners. Graphics of the game are beautifully designed and give you a real feel of diving deep inside.

7. Tomb Raider

Every day you will find new steam games but who hasn’t heard of Tomb Raider? Lara croft, one of the biggest gaming icons made a comeback in 2013 with a new title Tomb Raider. For those who need introduction for this game, Lara Croft is an archaeologist who stumbles across many adventures. Like always this game is known for its beautiful design and you will love to uncover the adventure.

8. Broken Age

Broken Age is an art style story book game which is really refreshing. All and all you can control two main characters, a girl and a boy who live abroad with computerized parents. The relationship between characters is something which you will have to solve by yourself.

9. Final Soccer

Next pick is for sports lovers. If soccer is your favorite sport and you have VR compatible kit then you will find this game the best Mac game on Steam. Visuals of this game are awesome and you will find yourself lost in it. With your VR kit you need to stretch yourself but you will really enjoy playing it.

10. Golfing Over It

For all the golf lovers this game will be a perfect pick. You might have played lots of games with the Normal golf set but this game is different. You need to bounce the golf ball over different shapes and creations. If you can do it perfectly you will level up. The game is lightweight and a perfect pick to refresh your mind.

So, these were 10 best Mac games on Steam. Apart from this you can choose from more than 6000 games on the store but if you are a beginner then first you should choose from top 10 Mac games for free. With this now Mac lovers will also have better gaming experience than ever before.