[matthew-wegner]

> You're not able to virtualize the build machines.

Sure you can. And officially, too. Apple still ships a bunch of virtualization drivers in macOS itself. Have a look:

/System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleVmxnet3Ethernet.kext

Whether or not you're using ESXi, or want to, is an entirely different question. But "you're not able to" is simply incorrect. I virtualize several build agents and have for years with no issues.

macOS 26 is the last major version to support Intel, so once macOS 28 is latest this will probably become impossible (macOS 26 should be able to use Xcode 27, but maybe the platform removal will change this previous year's OS support from continuing).

[GTP]

> Apple still ships a bunch of virtualization drivers in macOS itself.

I think OP means virtualizing on something that isn't Apple.

[jayd16]

Interesting. The last I looked into it, you could only officially do this on Mac hardware (defeating the purpose).

You can get an xcode building for arm Macs on PC hardware with this?

[lowbloodsugar]

- Windows: windows and Linux vm.

- Linux: windows and Linux vm.

- Apple: windows, Linux, Apple VM.

Seems pretty straightforward.

I am being facetious. You'll have a PC for gamedev because that's your biggest platform unless you are primarily switch or PS5, in which case you'll have a devkit as well as a PC. But the cost of an Apple device is insignificant compared to the cost of developing the software for it.

So it really comes down to the market size and _where they are_. The games I play are either on my PS5, or on my Mac, never both. For any specific game, they are on one or the other. Ghost of Tsushima is on the PS5. Factorio is on my Mac. If I were an indie game developer, I'd likely be developing the kind of game that has a good market on the Mac.