How to play Red Dead Redemption 2 on macOS (2025)
2025 had been a great year for gaming on Mac, especially with the latest version of CrossOver 25.0, and D3DMetal 2.1 (GPTK). There’s been so much advancements that games like Red Dead Redemption 2 is now playable on Macs. Here’s how to play Red Dead Redemption 2 on macOS. I had this running on a M2 Max Mac Studio quite well.
What’s the trick?!
CodeWeaver’s Crossover is the secret sauce that translates Windows applications, read games, to run on your Mac. CrossOver 25.0 includes not only D3DMetal 2.1 but also custom implementation that now allows you to run Red Dead Redemption 2 on macOS!
This will cost you about $59.95 usually. Sometimes there are promos like Black Friday, etc so you might be able to snag it cheaper. Once you purchased and installed CrossOver, the fun begins.
How to install Red Dead Redemption 2 on macOS using CrossOver
You would have to purchase it from Steam or Epic Games Store. As for me, I purchased the game on Steam. That means on CrossOver 25.0, you will need to install Steam first, then the game from Steam.
1. Install Steam on a new bottle
You will see a few pop-ups to install Visual C++ and Windows fonts which are required for Steam to run. Go ahead click the necessary buttons to install them.
Once installed, I would uncheck Run Steam so that the bottle would complete its setup on CrossOver 25.0.
At this point, you should be able to open up and log in to Steam.
2. Install Steam on a new bottle
Now, you’re ready to install Red Dead Redemption 2 on macOS. Look for it on Steam and click on install.
Depending on your network speed, it might take a while to download and install. It is a 120GB game.
How to first run Red Dead Redemption 2 on CrossOver.
For some reason, I was not able to run the game immediately after it completed the installation on Steam. It would say the game is running on Steam, but nothing happens. I also checked to make sure that was no dialog boxes hidden behind the Steam window.
I then quit Steam and started the game using the Red Dead Redemption 2 shortcut created after installing the game via Steam on CrossOver 25.0 app.
Now, the game prompts the installation of Rockstar Games Launcher. After installation, you will need to login to the launcher. If you don’t already have a Rockstar Games account, you will need to create a login to continue. Unfortunately, the game will require both of these launchers to run.
NOTE: If the Rockstar Games Launcher complains it cannot get online, just keep clicking on the Retry button until it does.
Once it manage to run, you may see a dialog box pointing you have an unsupported graphics driver. Just click OK and ignore it.
After this, Red Dead Redemption 2 should now load on your Mac. For me, it launched by default in 1080p resolution in a bordered window mode. Go into the settings and change the graphics settings to what you want it to be.
The optimal setting for Red Dead Redemption 2 on macOS with the M2 Max chip (12-core CPU and 38-core GPU)
After a few quick test, I found that a combination of the following Ultra and High settings was very playable at 1080p on my Mac Studio with the M2 Max chip.
You can see how the M2 Max handles Red Dead Redemption 2 benchmark in the video below.
How playable is Red Dead Redemption 2 on macOS
TL;DR: Very playable.
If you’re interested, here’s my first 20 minutes gameplay of Red Dead Redemption 2 on macOS. As you can see, the game is very playable on my M2 Max Mac Studio and a relatively high graphics quality, albeit at 1080p.
If this post has been useful, support me by buying me a latte or two 🙂
