Final Fantasy 14 had a rough start, especially on Mac.  The base game was flawed in so many ways, even Final Fantasy 14’s (FFXIV) worried it could be the end of  “the end of Final Fantasy”.

And to make matters worse, FFXIV’s Mac performance was so poor at launch, Square Enix officially apologized, suspended sales and offered refunds:

After careful consideration, due to the issues surrounding the Mac version, we have decided to offer a full refund to those who wish to receive one.

But Square Enix made good on its promise to improve the game. Mac Performance continues to improve with every update, just as the game itself went from abysmal at launch in 2010, to critically-acclaimed with the release of Shadowbringers, the game’s latest expansion.

Shadowbringers is so good, many are calling it one of the finest MMORPGs available for Mac. 

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Final Fantasy 14: Shadowbringers on Mac

Shadowbringers, released on July 2, 2019, is the culmination of years of hard work. After FFXIV’s extremely poor reception in 2010, the game had to be relaunched with a new team. A Realm Reborn was FFXIV’s fresh new start, and with every new Expansion, the game has continued to improve.

And with an outstanding 91 Metascore, Shadowbringers appears to be FFXIV’s best expansion yet:

As is standard for any MMO expansion, Shadowbringers comes with a new campaign, new areas to explore, new races (two), a level cap increase, and more.

But above all, Shadowbringers delivers an epic experience, featuring an excellent story, interesting characters, new systems, and a stellar soundtrack.

Some are even calling it “the greatest Final Fantasy games ever made”.

If you ever wanted to experience a Final Fantasy game on Mac, or simply were looking for a new MMO to play, FFXIV is a safe bet.

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Final Fantasy 14 Mac requirements

These are the game’s official system requirements. Make sure your machine meets these before making a purchase:

• OS: macOS Mojave 10.14.3
• Memory: 4GB
• Free Disc Space 60GB
• Graphics: AMD Radeon R9 M295X or higher
• Recommended screen resolution: 1600×900

Also, the game was recently updated to 64-bit, making it compatible with macOS Catalina, due this fall. 

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Can you run Final Fantasy 14 on Mac?

We recently tried the game on several Macs and were surprised by the game’s smooth performance.

We tested it on the following machines:

• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016): 2.0 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, Intel Iris Graphics 540 (1.5GB)
• iMac (5K, 27-inch, Late 2014): 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, AMD Radeon R9 M290X (2GB)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2013): 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, GeForce GT 650M (1GB)

Ads you can see below, if you have a somewhat recent Mac (like our 2016 MacBook Pro), your Mac should be able to run it without a problem: 

But if your Mac is older than that, you should stay away from this game (unless, of course, your Mac has a powerful dedicated graphics card).

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Where to download Final Fantasy 14 on Mac

The game is available from both Square Enix’s official store and Steam. Yet for some reason, Steam only supports the Windows version of the game. It is unclear whether Steam will ever support FFXIV’s Mac version, therefore, it is preferable to download the game straight from Square Enix:

Official Site

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