To play Age of Empires on your Mac computer, you will need to install Windows OS. Well, we know that Age of Empires is not really available for Mac so you actually have to use either a Remote Desktop or a Virtual Machine or via Boot Camp. Let’s learn a little more about it here.
How to play Age of Empires on Mac
Age of Empires is one of the very popular games based on real-time historic strategies. The game was developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. At the time of writing this article, this series has a total of Nine Games released. You will be able to play the game on your Mac using any one of the following methods.
1] Use a Virtual Machine
A virtual machine is actually a computer file that behaves like a complete computer. You can run it in a window with a different operating system. It is well partitioned from the rest of your computer system which means that it cannot interfere with the primary operating system on your machine. Since Age of Empires is a Windows dedicated game, you need to run Windows operating system on a virtual machine to play this game on your Mac.
- Start your virtual machine software.
- Download Windows and follow the instruction to install it on your Mac.
- Once Windows is installed on your virtual machine, you will be able to play your favorite Age of Empires on your Mac.
- Download the game from the MS Store and enjoy.
- Just remember that it’s a virtual machine and won’t be performing the best as your primary machine, you may experience some performance issues while gaming.
There are many virtual machine software available in the market that will let you install Windows OS on a Mac, and some of the popular names include – Parallel Desktop and VMWare Fusion.
2] Use BootCamp
Apart from the virtual machine software, you can also use Boot Camp Assistant to create a Windows partition in your Mac. Boot Camp is rather the Apple-endorsed way of running Windows onto your Mac.
- Before you install Windows on your Mac, check the Secure Boot Settings. By default it is set to Full Security, if by any chance you have changed it to No Security, change it to Full Security again and then proceed.
- Go to the Utilities folder under your Applications folder and open Boot Camp Assistant. Follow the given instructions.
- Plus in your USB flash drive in your Mac and the Boot Camp Assistant will create a bootable USB drive for the Windows installation.
- You will then be asked to set the size of the Windows partition, you can set the partition size as per your needs and remember that you can’t change it later. Recommended size is 100-150GB.
- Once the Boot Camp Assistant is done, your Mac will restart the Windows installer. Select the Bootcamp partition and click on Format. Click on Next and follow the given instructions to begin the Windows installation. Remember to unplug all the other external devices not required for the installation.
- Wait for the installation to complete and then click on Finish.
- You now have Windows running on your Mac. Download the game and enjoy.
So these are the ways by which you can play Age of Empires on your Mac. Do let us know which one of these suited you better.
Can we play Age of Empires 4 on Mac?
The game Age of Empires is officially available only for Windows 10 and Windows 11 and not for Mac, but you can still play it on your Mac using a Virtual Machine or via Boot Camp.
Source: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-play-age-of-empires-on-mac