If anyone reading this is a player of Guild Wars 2 on a Mac, then we’ve got some bad news for you: ArenaNet has announced that the studio will be ending Mac support on Thursday, February 18th, as a result of Apple’s move away from OpenGL graphics technology that first started in 2018.
While the end of OpenGL support hasn’t necessarily affected Mac players of the game to this point, Apple has pointed out that newer versions of the Mac OS likely will not continue to keep OpenGL operational. This fact, combined with Apple actively not fixing OpenGL driver issues and announcing that new Mac computers will be designed around a different chip technology according to ArenaNet, has effectively forced the studio’s hand.
“For now, OpenGL still works, and existing Mac computers based on Intel chips still work as well. At some point in the future, however, OpenGL may simply no longer be included on Mac systems at all, and the differences in chip hardware will make it very costly and difficult for us to support both the old and new processor designs.”
As a result of this impending shutdown, Mac players will not be able to purchase Gems starting on January 19th. That said, Mac players’ account details like characters, progress, purchases, friends, and memories will still be saved and available to access through the Windows version of the game, and GW2 can still be played via GeForce NOW. Otherwise, players can request refunds of Gem or client purchases provided those purchases are within a 30-day window of the request.
