Elite Dangerous, developed by Frontier Developments is a space sandbox game and the fourth installment in the Elite video game series. It can also be considered a bit of a reboot for the series, since the third game came out all the way back in 1995. The game sticks to the simple premise of all the games in the series: you are a spaceship pilot in an open-world galaxy, with almost nothing to your name sans the spaceship and a very small amount of money. Now go explore, trade, fight, earn money, and rise through the ranks of pilots to reach the coveted rank of “Elite”. And while the premise is indeed very basic – essentially it’s just a sandbox with a rank system to serve as motivation – Elite Dangerous builds upon it masterfully, leveraging modern technology to create a massively multiplayer world that is a 1:1 scale replica of the Milky Way galaxy, with hundreds of thousands of star systems crafted according to the actual scientific knowledge of these systems, and the rest – procedurally generated, also in a realistic, science-based manner. In this vast universe, the players can trade, mine asteroids for materials, engage in piracy, explore anomalies, operate space stations, and that’s not even all. The game is currently available for Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, though Frontier has recently made an announcement stating that the console versions will no longer receive content updates. A Mac version was also available at one point, but was completely discontinued since. It is still possible to play Elite Dangerous on Mac, however, with the help of the guide below.
Play Elite Dangerous on Mac with Parallels
Elite Dangerous 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 an application that allows for Windows virtualization on Mac with the full support of DirectX and GPUs. In simpler terms, what this means is that it allows you to install Windows 10 on Mac with just a couple of clicks and switch between MacOS and Windows instantly. So you will be able to run Windows, install Steam, and enjoy the Elite Dangerous game on Mac just like on a regular PC.
Note: Recommended devices to run resource-demanding games: MacBook Pro (models with an 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 models are suitable), Mac Pro (all models 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 are currently not supported by Parallels. AppsOnMac recommends using Parallels’ free trial feature to determine whether you can run the game or not if you’re uncertain.
Play Elite Dangerous on Mac with cloud gaming services
If you have an old Mac or it cannot satisfy the Elite Dangerous game system requirements, there is an easy solution. Cloud gaming services will be happy to provide you with sufficient computing power – though not for free, of course. All you need is a browser or a small client program and a good internet connection starting from 15 MBit/s. There are several great platforms that provide these services, among the best are Boosteroid, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Nvidia GeForce Now. Boosteroid specifically has Elite Dangerous in its library of games.
Play Elite Dangerous 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 Elite Dangerous on Mac
This method is simple but time-consuming. If your Mac meets all the system requirements above, you can play Elite Dangerous on Mac by installing Windows. You need to set up a dual boot of Windows and Mac via BootCamp. This is an application that 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 want to switch from Mac to Windows and vice versa. Remember that Mac is just a computer, in the end. And while newer Macs have their own special Apple Silicon chips that cannot run Windows, older Macs are very much similar to computers that run Windows, they have Intel processors, compatible RAM, disks, and other components. So you can install Windows on an older Mac by allocating no less than 64 GB of disk space (to be able to run Windows and a couple of games) and following these steps:
For OS X El Capitan 10.11 or later
For MacOS versions prior to OS X El Capitan 10.11 you will need to create a bootable Windows USB.
- Download this Windows ISO file.
- Open Boot Camp Assistant (Go to Applications > Utilities).
- Define the Windows partition size and choose the Windows ISO file you’ve downloaded.
- Format the 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)