Is it possible to play Factorio on Mac?
Factorio is an attractive strategy game! It still remains popular among many gamers around the world. is a game where you build factories and keep them running. You will extract resources, research new technologies, create infrastructure, automate production and fight enemies. At the initial stage of the game, you will manually chop trees, mine ore and create simple manipulators and transport conveyors, but after a while you will finally be able to rise to the energy industry with huge solar farms, distillation and oil refining, build robots and deploy a logistics network, customized for your resource needs. But the brutal exploitation of the planet’s resources will not go unnoticed by the locals, so you’ll have to be ready to stand up for yourself and your mechanical empire. Despite Factorio has Mac version, unfortunately on official site there is no information about compatibility with Mac OS Catalina. Unlike, MacOS Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra; MacOS X El Capitan, Yosemite users, some Mac OS Catalina users reports, that they have different bugs and errors, when they try to run Factorio on MacBook Pro/iMac/Mac. Anyway, we have an alternative solution. In the article below we will try to help you play Factorio on Mac, or MacBook without bugs and errors.
System Requirements
| Minimal | Recommended |
|---|---|
| Windows 7,8,10 64-bits | Windows 10 64-bits |
| Processor: Dual core 3Ghz+ or better | Processor: Quad core 3Ghz+ or better |
| RAM: 4 GB | RAM: 8 GB |
| Video card: DirectX 10.1 capable GPU with 512 MB VRAM – GeForce GTX 260, Radeon HD 4850 or Intel HD Graphics 5500 | Video card: Radeon RX 590 or GeForce GTX 970 |
| DirectX: from 10.1 version | DirectX: from 11.0 version |
| Disc space: 3 GB | Disc space: 3 GB |
Play Factorio on Mac with Parallels
Factorio doesn’t require lots of PC resources, you can run it by using Parallels. This is software for Windows virtualization on Mac with the full support of DirectX and GPUs. It allows you to install you have a decent Mac configuration, you can 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 Factorio 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 Factorio on Mac with Boosteroid or Nvidia GeForce Now
If you have an old Mac, or it cannot fully satisfy Factorio game system requirements, there is a potential solution. Cloud gaming provides you 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 15 MBits/s. There are several great services, that provide such an opportunity, among the best are Boosteroid and Nvidia GeForce Now. Both services have Factorio in their game catalog and allow you to play full-functional game on Mac, iPad or old Windows PC.
Play Factorio 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 Factorio on Mac
This method is simple but time-consuming. 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 minimum 50 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)