Is it possible to play Borderlands 3 on Mac?
Borderlands 3 is a role-playing videogame that offers a world of 4K shooter action developed by Gearbox Software. Being the fourth installment of the entire Borderlands series, the game is represented as a sequel to Borderlands 2 which was released back in 2012. As always, players will be given a chance to become one of 4 heisters striving to find treasures and of the unusual land. You will have to complete a variety of new missions and quests to improve your character, gain experience, and go through the main plot of the game. Four new Vault Hunters have been recruited by the Crimson Raiders of Pandora to prevent twins Troy and Tyreen Calypso with their allies from soaking the power of alien tombs scattered around the whole universe. Now, it is your turn to become a hero and protect your home from devastating bigots willing to conquer the land. You can choose to play alone or with friends in single/multiplayer modes to harvest the treasures and combat tons of crazy enemies together. Thanks to Unreal Engine 4, the game acquired a truly amazing and mind-blowing experience with 60fps gameplay in 4K resolution. There is also added support for three- and four-player split-screen play in local multiplayer exclusively available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. People can try the game on all popular platforms like Windows, Mac, Stadia, Xbox, and Playstation of the latest series. Unfortunately, not many wield enough gaming capacity to tune up the graphics and play Borderlands at its best. We have solutions to fix this and launch Borderlands 3 with high-end graphics even on poor computers regardless of the OS in our tutorial below.
System Requirements
| Minimal | Recommended |
|---|---|
| OS: Windows 7/10 (latest service pack) | OS: Windows 7/10 (latest service pack) |
| Processor: AMD FX-8350 or Intel i5-3570 | Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 5 2600 (Intel i7-4770) |
| RAM: 6 GB | RAM: 16 GB |
| Video card: AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2 GB | Video card: AMD Radeon™ RX 590 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB |
| DirectX: from 11 version | DirectX: from 11 version |
| Disc space: 75 GB | Disc space: 75 GB |
Play Borderlands 3 on Mac with Parallels
Borderlands 3 requires lots of PC resources, but if you have a powerful Mac computer (iMac, iMac Pro, or Mac Pro) Parallels Desktop can be a solution. This is software for Windows virtualization on Mac with the full support of DirectX and GPUs. It allows you to install Windows 10 on Mac with a couple of clicks and switch between MacOS and Windows instantly. You can run Windows just like on a regular PC, install Steam and enjoy the Borderlands 3 game on Mac.
Note: Recommended devices to run resource-demanding games: MacBook Pro (models with Intel processor, discrete graphics cards, and 16 Gb of RAM or more), iMac (models with Intel processor, discrete graphics cards, and 16 Gb of RAM or more), iMac Pro (all versions are suitable), Mac Pro (all versions are suitable). Parallels on Mac computers with M1 (M1 Pro, M1 Max) chips may not support recent games. Games that require DirectX 12 and later currently not supported by Parallels.
Play Borderlands 3 on Mac with cloud gaming services
Update: Boosteroid fully supports Borderlands 3. Register and explore cloud gaming now!
If you have an old Mac or it cannot satisfy Borderlands 3 game system requirements, there is an easy solution. Cloud gaming provides you with sufficient cloud resources for a fixed fee. All you need is a browser or a small client program and a good internet connection starting from 20 Mbits/s. There are several great services, that provide such an opportunity, among the best are Boosteroid. Both services have Borderlands in their game catalog, and you can play on any Mac computer (starting from MacOS 10.10) and even Android!
Play Borderlands 3 on Mac with BootCamp
Note: Mac computers with new Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3 Pro, or M1, M2, M3 Max) currently do not support BootCamp. In this case, please, use the options above to run Borderlands 3 on Mac
This method is simple but time-consuming. If your Mac meets all system requirements above, this is probably the best way to play Borderlands 3 for now. You need to set up a dual boot of Windows and Mac via BootCamp. BootCamp allows users to choose the system to work in on startup, however, you won’t be able to switch between systems like in Parallels. You will need to reboot your machine every time you switch from Mac to Windows and vice versa. Remember that Mac is just a computer, that uses common processors, RAM, disks, and other components. So you can install Windows on Mac by allocating disc space of a minimum of 64 Gb (to be able to run Windows and a couple of games). To set up Windows via BootCamp, please, do the following:
For OS X El Capitan 10.11 or later
Mention, that for MacOS versions prior to OS X El Capitan 10.11 you will need to create bootable Windows USB.
- Download Windows ISO file
- Open Boot Camp Assistant (Go to Applications > Utilities)
- Define the Windows partition size, choose downloaded Windows ISO file
- Format Windows partition and go through all Windows installation steps
- When Windows boots for the first time, follow on-screen instructions to install Boot Camp and Windows support software (drivers)