Final Fantasy 14 Online on M1 Mac: Runs on Apple Silicon

by | Aug 17, 2022

Final Fantasy 14 Online can run on M1 Macs via Rosetta 2.

[toc] One of the most popular MMOs today, Final Fantasy 14 Online gets better with every Expansion. The game is in such a great place right now that some of the top streamers are leaving World of Warcraft for the world of Hydaelyn.

More M1 gaming? Visit our M1-ready Games list for 100+ Mac games we have tested and confirmed as M1-compatible.

ArtGameGenre64-bit?64-bitAPIM1 SupportPerformance
Final Fantasy 14 Online Mac artFinal Fantasy 14 OnlineMMOYesMetal

Rosetta

Poor

Final Fantasy 14 Online M1 and M2 Mac benchmarks

The table summarizes our benchmark results as well as results from other members of the community (you can request more benchmarks on Twitter):

GameMachineResolutionSettingsFPSTesterTested
Final Fantasy 14 Online💻 M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14", 16 GB1440x900Low45-60Apple Silicon DB18/8/2022

As a reminder, this is how we describe the different levels of performance:

  • Below 20 FPS: Unplayable: Laggy gameplay, full of stutters and slowdowns.
  • 20-30 FPS: Borderline: Can be OK in slow-paced games. Still, not optimal.
  • 30-45 FPS: Playable: Acceptable for most (most gaming consoles do this).
  • 45-60 FPS: Smooth: Fluid gameplay, with no perceivable stutters.
  • 60+ FPS: Very Smooth: For hardcore and professional players, a luxury for most.

We usually aim for 30 FPS (frames per second) because 30 FPS is enough to guarantee a smooth and fluid experience for the average casual gamer.

M1 & M2 Mac support: Rosetta

Final Fantasy 14 Online runs on M1 Macs with Apple Silicon via Rosetta 2.

Final Fantasy 14 Online Mac

Final Fantasy 14 Online Mac (Metal + Rosetta 2)

The game is still exclusively written for Intel-based Macs, but thanks to Rosetta 2, Final Fantasy 14 Online can nonetheless run great on M1 and M2 Macs. Do note that performance is average at best. According to testers, freezes and crashes abound, and the most reliable method to avoid them and have the best possible performance on Apple Silicon Macs is to run the game in full-screen mode and limit FPS to 60 in settings. Overall, experience seems to be better running the game using CrossOver, especially when using this mod.

What is Rosetta 2? Rosetta 2 is a translation process that enables M1 and M2 Macs to run apps built for Intel-based Macs. This is not an app you’ll have to open and or interact it. Install it once, and it’ll take care of the rest.

Other M1 games you may like:

World of Warcraft Mac artWorld of WarcraftMMO

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War Thunder Mac artWar ThunderMMO

Rosetta

World of Tanks Blitz Mac artWorld of Tanks BlitzMMO

Rosetta

Final Fantasy 14 Online Mac requirements

These are the game’s official Mac requirements:

Minimum Requirements
OS: 10.14
Processor: Intel Core i5
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Radeon R9 M295X or higher
Hard Drive: 80 GB
A 64-Bit OS and processor are required

⚠️ According to these system requirements, a Mac with integrated graphics should not be able to run it. But we can confirm it’s definitely possible.

Is Final Fantasy 14 Online on Mac worth it?

As Philip Kollar from Polygon simply puts it:

Final Fantasy 14 redeems the series’ greatest disaster.

FF14 has been through a lot, especially on Mac. The macOS version of the game was so broken at launch that the developer publicly apologized and removed it from their store. These days, Final Fantasy 14 is considered the best MMO in the market, including the game’s macOS version.

Bottom line:

Steam: 88% – Very Positive
OpenCritic: 86 – 92% of Critics recommend
Polygon: 9/10

Final Fantasy 14 Online download

You can download Final Fantasy 14 Online from Official store.

Why you should trust us

While similar sites opted for 100% community-based submissions and results, we decided to stick with a semi-open setup. Of course, your contributions are essential for us, but we still perform a significant part of the benchmarks published on our site and verify all submitted tests before including them on the site.

We spend hours per week testing games on our 2 Apple Silicon Macs, and you can rest assured that someone on the team has verified all the information you’ll read on Mac Gamer HQ. Our tests include digging into the Terminal, running benchmarks, and more.

Metro Exodus on M1 Mac Rosetta 2 support

Our Machines :

We performed our in-house tests on the following machines:

  • 14-inch MacBook Pro (2021): Apple M1 Pro chip with 8-Core CPU, 14-Core GPU, 16 GB RAM
  • MacBook Air (2020): Apple M1 chip with 8-core CPU, 8 GB RAM

If you have more questions, or your own M1 test results to share, on this game or another, hit us up on the comments below on our private Discord server!

About The Author

Ric Molina
Ric Molina
Ric Molina has been covering Mac gaming for the last 6 years, since the launch of Mac Gamer HQ in 2012. Ric's work has been featured by some of the biggest tech outlets in the world, such as TechCrunch, Apple Insider, The Loop, Mac Rumors, iMore, Cult Of Mac, 9to5Mac and has been awarded Macfixit's Top Apple Blogs and Feedspot's Top 40 Mac Blogs for Macintosh Users.
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