Apple signaled it could abandon a crucial tool for game developers - and it could come back to haunt it

Getty/Justin Sullivan

Apple CEO Tim Cook.

• Apple announced during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference that OpenGL, a longtime tool for game developers, will "no longer be used in active development" on MacOS and instead, encouraged them to adopt Metal, its newer, proprietary tool.
• Some video game developers hinted at abandoning support for Macs, while others believed it was a prudent decision.
• Although Apple offered some relief with a "grace period" and assured that the old tools will remain usable "for a reasonable time," the general consensus amongst developers is OpenGL is in its final death throes.

While Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference brought cheers on Monday, many game developers grew uneasy after the company announced that OpenGL, a longtime tool and open standard, will "no longer be used in active development" starting with MacOS Mojave, the new version launching later this year.

Some developers were taken aback by the announcement. OpenGL is a widely used graphics application programming interface (API) that allows software to interact with different hardware seamlessly. It helps to think of OpenGL as the middleman between a game and a PC's graphics card.

If you ever installed a video game on a Mac, chances are good that developers used OpenGL. Among its other virtues, using OpenGL can cut time in bringing their games over from Windows or even iPhone, and vice versa. And without an API like OpenGL, developers would have to start from scratch on every new platform.

OpenGL, first developed in the '90s, has a robust following, and is considered the common language for graphics programmers due to it being an open standard that works on most platforms. Now, Apple is saying that they won't be supporting future versions of MacOS to work with OpenGL, and could indeed remove OpenGL support at any time.

Screenshot

Apple unveils MacOS Mojave at its WWDC 2018 conference.

"When a deprecation occurs, it's not an immediate end of life for the specified API," Apple said in its latest release notes. "Instead, it is the beginning of a grace period for transitioning from that API and to newer and more modern replacements."

Indeed, Apple will push Metal - its own graphics API, which is only found on the iPhone, iPad and, with the MacOS update, all Mac computers. First released in 2014, Apple's Metal is certainly "more modern" than OpenGL, which has its roots in the early days of 3D gaming.

The decision has split the developer community. Some game developers hinted at abandoning support for Macs entirely over the change, while others believed it was a prudent decision. Still, the consensus opinion seems to be that while the move was surprising, OpenGL was likely on its last legs regardless of what Apple did or didn't do.

"It's a pretty smart move," startup game developer Sam Loeschen said to Business Insider. "It kind of sucks because most people using OpenGL are a lot of indie teams, but unfortunately, they're in the fair minority."

And major games, such as Epic Games' "Fortnite," already require Macs to be compatible with Metal in order to run, indicating that major developers have already began adopting the API. It could still pose an increased challenge for smaller teams and indie games, who may have to update all of their games to use Metal instead of OpenGL.

Apple, for its part, seems to understand the hassle this change could cause. To that end, it's hyping up the benefits of Metal to developers over its alternatives.

Dave Smith/Business Insider

"Fortnite: Battle Royale" on a PlayStation 4. The Mac version uses Metal to power its graphics.

"Games and graphics-intensive apps that use OpenGL should now adopt Metal," Apple said in its release notes. "Metal avoids the overhead inherent in legacy technologies and exposes the latest graphics processing functionality."

Developers familiar with Metal agreed with Apple's assessment: "I can write a Metal application that will run on an iPhone and it will look the same on my Mac computer without having to do much internal plumbing," Loeschen said. "I can do [multiple] commands all in the same area. It's just all there."

And Apple offered some relief with a "grace period" and assured that OpenGL will remain usable "for a reasonable time." Dan Omachi, a Metal developer liaison, noted to VentureBeat that Apple provides several tools for developers not proficient in Metal to ease the transition.

Here's a glimpse at the conversation, via developers on Twitter:

Ultimately, Apple's move could end up having a profound impact for Mac game developers.

While Windows PCs have been synonymous with video games for decades now, Apple's Macs have long been a punchline among gamers - while there are a handful of big-ticket games available for MacOS, like "Diablo III" and "ARK: Survival Evolved," Apple has rarely given Macs the hardware to compete graphically with a similarly-priced Windows PC, and most game developers don't even bother.

Indeed, many, if not most, of the best-selling Mac games are independent titles, made by relatively small teams: "Stardew Valley," "Rocket League," and "Rust" are all popular on Macs. This problem becomes even more apparent when you take a look at a "top 10" list of games supported for Macs - nearly every compilation contains indie titles.

This means that the focus away from OpenGL and towards Metal could have an outsized impact the smallest developers, who also contribute many of its most popular video games. They may not have the resources or time to update their games to keep up, and thus, gaming on the Mac could be jeopardized even further.