Is it possible to play Civilization VI on Mac?
Initially designed by Sid Meier, Civilization VI (Civilization 6) is a turn-based strategy game inviting thousands of players to build and take care of their own empire. You will have to compete with AI enemies alone or with friends in forming and cultivating your civilization from a small tribe to the entire empire. Develop and conquer new cities to expand your prevalence across the whole globe over other civilizations. Be ready to declare wars with thousands of skilled troops, negotiate, foster culture, and challenge the greatest leaders in human history to forge the greatest civilization humanity has ever known. Civilization VI entails a huge variety of gameplay with lots of interesting mechanisms and plays. This makes the game even more engaging in terms of its approach and play styles. It is officially playable on Windows, Linux, Xbox, PlayStation, IOS, Nintendo Switch, and macOS. Despite all the platforms being covered, there are some users unable to enjoy the game fully because of low PC capacity or having issues running the MacOS version of the game. If you are looking to fix this, read our tutorial below. We will show how to play ultra graphics games even on poor computers.
System Requirements
| Minimal | Recommended |
|---|---|
| OS: Windows 7×64 / Windows 8.1×64 / Windows 10×64 | OS: Windows 7×64 / Windows 8.1×64 / Windows 10×64 |
| Processor: Intel Core i3 2.5 Ghz or AMD Phenom II 2.6 Ghz or greater | Processor: Fourth Generation Intel Core i5 2.5 Ghz or AMD FX8350 4.0 Ghz or greater |
| RAM: 4 GB | RAM: 8 GB |
| Video card: 1 GB & AMD 5570 or nVidia 450 or Intel Integrated Graphics 530 | Video card: 2GB & AMD 7970 or nVidia 770 or greater |
| DirectX: from 11 version | DirectX: from 11 version |
| Disc space: 12 GB | Disc space: 12 GB |
Play The Civilization VI on Mac with Parallels
The Civilization VI requires lots of PC resources, but you can play the game if you have a powerful Mac computer (iMac, iMac Pro, or Mac Pro), and 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 Civilization VI 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 The Civilization VI on Mac with Boosteroid or Nvidia GeForce Now
Update: Boosteroid supports The Civilization VI to the date, and you can play it on Mac on high settings right now! Register and explore cloud gaming now!
If you have an old Mac, or it cannot satisfy The Civilization VI 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 small client program and a good internet connection starting from 15 MBits/s. There are several great services, that provide such an opportunity, among the best are Boosteroid, Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now. Boosteroid has The Civilization VI in their game catalog, which gives you an opportunity to play this excellent game on Mac or even Android!
Play The Civilization VI 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 The Civilization VI on Mac
This method is simple but time-consuming. If your Mac meets all the system requirements above, this is probably the best way to play The Civilization VI 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)