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3 Ways to Play Genshin Impact on Mac [2023]

Jul 05, 2023

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Gaming and Mac weren’t synonymous until WWDC 2023 when macOS Sonoma bought an all-new and much anticipated Game Mode. Developers can now port their already-existing games from other platforms to macOS in a breeze, all thanks to Metal 3’s new game porting toolkit. With the porting process being much more streamlined now, we can expect a truckload of games to arrive soon with the stable releases of macOS Sonoma.

However, since good things take time, playing popular titles like Genshin Impact on Mac is still far from ideal, as there is no native support for the game yet. But fret not; playing Genshin Impact on Mac is possible using a few workarounds. So, whether you have an Intel-based Mac or an Apple silicon one, read along to know more.

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As for many other popular titles, games like Genshin Impact are unlikely to see the daylight, mainly because Macs aren’t popular among gamers. And since most Macs lack a dedicated graphics processing unit, it doesn’t make much sense for developers to pour their time and effort into making their games compatible with macOS.

It was possible to run games on Mac using Windows emulators earlier, but the support slowly faded after Apple silicon-based Macs were announced. Not just that, Genshin Impact’s strict anti-cheat policies prevent the game from running using Windows emulators. Moreover, Apple didn’t seem to be interested for the longest time.

The answer is relatively simple – cloud gaming. Popularized during the pandemic era, cloud gaming allows users to play games on the cloud, thus eliminating the need for state-of-the-art hardware and storage space. Anyone with a stable internet connection can hop on one of the many cloud gaming platforms and start playing instantly.

It may sound magical initially, but the concept behind it is pretty straightforward. You are essentially using your network bandwidth to play games on someone else’s servers, which happens to be in the cloud. This directly eliminates hardware limitations. While there are a plethora of cloud gaming platforms on the internet, the ones we would recommend are GeForce Now and Boosteroid.

Before proceeding, let it be known that GeForce Now and Boosteroid are paid services. Though GeForce Now offers a free plan, it’s limited to an hour of gameplay per session. Unfortunately, Boosteroid doesn’t offer anything as such, so you’ll have to shell off some cash to try it out.

GeForce Now is NVIDIA’s cloud gaming solution, which is a famous GPU manufacturer. To ensure a ceaseless gaming session, GeForce Now recommends a minimum of 15Mbps internet connection for 720p gameplay and 25Mbps for 1080p gameplay.

While GeForce Now is available in most major nations, including the USA, Japan, Australia, Russia, and the EU, you may have to access it using a VPN, if unavailable in your country. Follow the steps below to play Genshin Impact on Mac using GeForce Now.

You can play the game directly in your browser to avoid the installation hassle. We suggest using Google Chrome, but other browsers like Microsoft Edge and Opera should work fine. Again, you may need a VPN to access the site. For the procedure, follow the steps below.

If you want a more enhanced gaming experience, consider upgrading your GeForce Now account to Priority or Ultimate tiers with perks like high-resolution gameplay, priority access to premium servers, and longer gaming sessions. Prices for the Priority and Ultimate tiers start from $9.99/month and $19.99/month, respectively.

Related Read: 20 Best Free Mac Games

As mentioned earlier, Boosteroid is a paid cloud gaming platform, so you must pay upfront to access the games. To play Genshin Impact on your Mac using Boosteroid, proceed as follows.

Alternatively, you can install the Boosteroid macOS client. To do so –

Boosteroid may not offer a free plan, but the pricing is a little more competitive than GeForce Now, starting at just €7.49/month for the annual plan and €9.89/month for the monthly plan. Do note that the gameplay is capped at 1080p at 60fps regardless of your chosen plan.

In 2006, Apple introduced Boot Camp — a new feature in Mac OS X version 10.5 “Leopard” that allowed users to install and run Windows OS on their Macs. Sadly, with the announcement of M1 Macs in 2020, Apple terminated the support for Boot Camp. The ability to run full-blown Windows OS on Mac came with the added perk of running PC games properly and natively.

As good as it may sound, installing Boot Camp is quite a task. Before initiating, check if your Mac has an Intel processor by clicking the Apple logo () in the top-left corner and selecting About This Mac. In our case, it’s the Apple M1 chip, not an Intel chip. We recommend checking out MacHow2’s guide on how to install Windows 11 on Mac for free with Boot Camp.

Installing Genshin Impact on Mac after that is as easy as slicing through butter. Follow the steps below for the same.

Apple may not be known for producing the finest gaming machines, but now you can indeed play Genshin Impact on Mac without any bounds. Cloud Gaming often proves miraculous, and this is one such instance. Boot Camp surprisingly works wonders on older Macs, despite being over a decade and a half old. Follow the above steps religiously to ensure a perfect experience. Get grinding, gamers!

Cloud gaming is a relatively new term in the gaming industry that enables games to be played on servers worldwide, also known as the cloud. All you require of your own is a stable and fast internet connection.

In cloud gaming, the games themselves run on powerful servers, and the players interact with the game through a client application or a compatible device, such as a computer, console, or even a mobile device.

Yes. Cloud gaming platforms can run perfectly in your browser, so you need not worry about hardware limitations. This also means that you don’t need free storage space at all. It’s as effortless as that. Unlike traditional gaming, where you have to download and install games on your computer, cloud gaming allows you to stream games directly from remote servers.

The unfortunate answer is no. Boot Camp isn’t supported on newer Macs, specifically those running on Apple silicon chips. To run Windows OS on your Mac, you can use virtualization software like Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion.

Technically, yes, you can play Genshin Impact on Mac using BlueStacks. Still, the experience would be far from good, as it is an Android (mobile) emulator, thus resulting in low resolution and poor-quality gameplay.

No, GeForce Now and Boosteroid aren’t available for free. GeForce Now does offer a free plan, but it severely limits the gaming experience. Boosteroid is a premium service only. Users need to pay a monthly or annual subscription to access the service, and they can use it to play free-to-play games or games they've already purchased on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and other digital games stores.

It's perfectly fine to play Genshin Impact on Macbook. While there are multiple ways to play Genshin on Mac, using cloud gaming services like GeForce Now and Boosteroid is a better and safer option.

Genshin Impact isn't natively available for Mac, so you can't directly install Genshin on your Mac. Having said that, there are reliable workarounds like using cloud gaming services like Boosteroid and GeForce Now, which lets you play Genshin on your Mac while providing pretty good gaming experience. Ensure you have high-speed and reliable Internet, though.

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Genshin Impact on MacGeForce NowBoosteroidGeForce Now and Boosteroid are paid servicesGeForce NowDownload.dmg fileApplications folderOpen Genshin ImpactEnterPlaycreate an NVIDIA accountlog insign inGenshin ImpactPlayJoin Todaysign inCreate a new accountPriorityUltimate$9.99/month$19.99/monthRelated Read: 20 Best Free Mac GamesPlay NowSign inGenshin ImpactPlaymacOS.dmgOpen Applications FolderOpensign inGenshin ImpactPlay€7.49/month for the annual plan€9.89/month for the monthly planApple logoAbout This MacApple M1WindowsRunTop 10 Games to Play on Chromebook