'Cyberpunk 2077' system requirements revealed for Apple Silicon Macs — M3 Pro recommended for 1080p 60 FPS gameplay

Official Cyberpunk 2077 coming to MacOS graphic.
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

Yesterday, CD Projekt Red revealed that Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is coming to Apple Silicon Macs on July 17. Now, the developer has posted the system requirements for the game and, as expected, they're quite demanding.

Cyberpunk is supported across all Macs with an M-series processor as long as you're running macOS Sequioa 15.5 and meet the RAM prerequisite. The minimum tier starts with a base M1 paired with 16GB of unified memory, which will get you 30 frames per second at roughly 900p resolution in the game, upscaled from a lower internal resolution using MetalFX dynamic resolution scaling — Apple's upscaling tech similar to AMD FSR. In fact, MetalFX upscaling will be enabled by default.

The recommended specs list an M3 Pro along with 18 GB of memory, enough to run the game at 1080p and 60 FPS. Then, there's the "High Fidelity" tier, which requires an M2 Ultra or M3 Max, outputting at 1440p. Finally, "Very High Fidelity" demands an M3 Ultra or M4 Max for the same 1440p resolution but with increased details. Both of these tiers require at least 36GB RAM and still aim for 60 FPS, so if you tried to save a few hundred bucks at checkout, you might be out of luck.

Cyberpunk 2077 system requirements for Mac

(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

Interestingly, none of these specs include ray tracing. It will remain a separate toggle that strains your system quite a bit. CD Projekt lists the recommended specs for ray tracing on a separate page; to run the game at 1080p with ray tracing set to medium, you'll need an M3 Pro with 18 GB RAM, which will target 30 FPS. That memory requirement doubles to 36 GB if you want 60 FPS, along with an M3 Max. Older-gen M1 and M2-series chips don't support ray tracing.

There is a new "For this Mac" preset that will automatically assign the best settings according to your hardware, saving you the hassle of manually tweaking everything. Moreover, if you choose to download Cyberpunk 2077 from Steam, Epic Games Store, or GOG (CD Projekt Red's own DRM-free marketplace), you'll need at least 92 GB of free storage. The App Store version, which includes all voiceovers, will be just shy of 160 GB.

Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition will release for macOS with the latest 2.3 update that fans have been looking forward to. It will support Spatial Audio, native HDR, and take full advantage of Apple's Metal API.

This marks the first major game release in modern Mac history that launches on Mac exclusively and not on iPads or iPhones — like Death Stranding, Assassin's Creed Shadows, or Resident Evil 4. If you already own the game on any platform (except for the App Store), it's a free download. You can also choose to buy the Phantom Liberty DLC separately if you've only played the base game.

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Hassam Nasir
Contributing Writer

Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.

  • hushnecampus
    So you're looking at a £2,000 Mac Studio to get 60FPS at 1440, with RT off. Honestly, not as bad as I expected, but still twice what you'd pay for a Windows/Linux machine that gets the same or better performance.

    Good news if you have a Mac for other reasons and want to use it for games I suppose, but this is certainly not a sign of Macs becoming competitive gaming machines.

    I'll stick with using my Mac 9-5, then switching to my PC for games when the work day ends.
    Reply
  • JamesJones44
    Looking at this it seems like the M3 Max is able to meet a 4070 for this game with RT off. That's better than I expected and not bad for an integrated GPU. I'm sure these numbers include a tone of CD Projekt Red optimizations for Apple Silicon GPUs but still, I would have expected worse.
    Reply
  • magbarn
    JamesJones44 said:
    Looking at this it seems like the M3 Max is able to meet a 4070 for this game with RT off. That's better than I expected and not bad for an integrated GPU. I'm sure these numbers include a tone of CD Projekt Red optimizations for Apple Silicon GPUs but still, I would have expected worse.
    We’ll see but Mac games usually don’t have all the eye candy that the PC versions do so it’s not really a fair comparison. Is VRR supported on Mac’s?
    Reply
  • JamesJones44
    magbarn said:
    We’ll see but Mac games usually don’t have all the eye candy that the PC versions do so it’s not really a fair comparison. Is VRR supported on Mac’s?

    They do support VRR.

    Supposedly these are the same general graphics settings as their PC cousins but the devil is always in the details so we will have to wait and see if that holds true.
    Reply
  • Heat_Fan89
    hushnecampus said:
    So you're looking at a £2,000 Mac Studio to get 60FPS at 1440, with RT off. Honestly, not as bad as I expected, but still twice what you'd pay for a Windows/Linux machine that gets the same or better performance.

    Good news if you have a Mac for other reasons and want to use it for games I suppose, but this is certainly not a sign of Macs becoming competitive gaming machines.

    I'll stick with using my Mac 9-5, then switching to my PC for games when the work day ends.
    That's what I do as well. I don't use a Windows PC for anything other than serious gaming. If someone has the money to choose between a Mac or Windows PC for mostly gaming, the strong choice would be a Windows PC. Heck, I may even put a PC running Linux and try that before spending thousands on a Mac to do gaming.
    Reply
  • Pemalite
    I guess it was a bit of a false hope to see older Intel Macs with RDNA Radeon Pro 16GB GPU's get support...
    Reply