Armchair generals can now conquer the world even faster on their Mac, with “Civilization VI” now supporting Apple Silicon.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, also known as Civ VI has been a long-time mainstay of strategy gaming on the Mac, having been available on the platform since 2016. However, a recent change has brought the game kicking and screaming to modern times.
In August, Aspyr Media released an update to the Mac App Store for the game, making it optimized for Apple Silicon. In AppleInsider’s testing of the game, it now loads about twice as fast as it did in its Intel-based release, and is much faster too, especially in the very demanding endgame.
The release is a universal app, so it still supports Intel Macs as well as newer Apple Silicon-based versions.
At the same time as Apple Silicon optimization, the Mac App Store listing says that all-new monthly challenges have been added. These provide limited-time challenges to take on unique scenarios as a specific leader, with an in-game Hall of Fame badge up for grabs.
This is not the first time that Civilization VI has run on Apple’s self-designed chips. AppleInsider raved about the iPad release of the game in 2018, followed closely by an iPhone release.
The Civilization series puts players in the role of a historical leader, who must lead their country and culture that can compete with others in the world. Civ VI provided experienced players with new ways to tweak their civilizations for success, while also introducing new tutorials to bring in new players.
Gamers wanting to play the next major entry in the strategy series will have a bit of a wait. It was revealed that Civilization VII will ship on Mac and other platforms on February 11, 2025.
