PrivatePlay

PRIVATEPLAY GUIDE

Set up and play.

PrivatePlay organizes supported Windows games on your Mac. You supply the games and accounts; the app uses Wine for Windows programs and Legendary for your Epic library.

Check compatibility before you start. Results vary by game. Anti-cheat, extra launchers, and graphics features can prevent a game from running. Windows Steam is experimental.

1. Prepare the app

  1. Install the Mac GStreamer runtime. The Wine Staging runner used by PrivatePlay needs it.
  2. In PrivatePlay Settings, download a compatible Wine Staging build and choose its wine executable.
  3. For Epic games, download the Apple Silicon build of Legendary, make it executable if macOS asks, and choose it in Settings.
  4. Create a Game setup. This gives games a separate Windows environment and keeps settings organized.

PrivatePlay currently opens the official download pages; you finish installing the runner and choose its location. Wine, Legendary, GStreamer, and games are not included in the PrivatePlay download.

2. Connect Epic Games

  1. Open Epic Games in PrivatePlay and choose Sign in.
  2. Enter your Epic credentials only on Epic's own sign-in page. Legendary may ask you to paste an authorization code into Terminal.
  3. Return to PrivatePlay and refresh your Epic library.
  4. Pick a game setup, install a game you own, and follow its download progress. Launch it from PrivatePlay when installation finishes.

Use Sign out in the Epic Games view to remove Legendary's local account session from PrivatePlay.

Windows Steam is experimental

PrivatePlay can open the official Windows Steam installer in a dedicated game setup and discover games installed there. This path has not been verified as reliable across Steam updates or games. If you only need Mac-native Steam titles, install the regular Mac Steam app instead.

Graphics and launch issues

If a game says it cannot initialize DirectX 11, select its Game setup and enable the DirectX 11 option. PrivatePlay installs a checked DXVK download into that setup, and can restore the original Wine graphics files if you turn it off.

Among Us from Epic has reached gameplay on an Apple M2 Mac, but a sharp half-screen lighting shadow appeared at native Retina fullscreen resolution. Try the windowed launch option at 1280 × 720 as a reversible test. It may improve the image, but it is not a confirmed fix. Other games can show different behavior.

When a game closes unexpectedly, look at its latest activity in PrivatePlay. If the game uses anti-cheat, an extra launcher, or unsupported graphics features, changing a setting may not be enough to run it.

Ask for help

Join the PrivatePlay Discord server for setup questions and to share what happened with a game. You can also email nojusvoigt@gmail.com.

Privacy

The app keeps its settings, game setups, Legendary account data, and private logs on your Mac. It has no PrivatePlay account or telemetry. Epic, Steam, and game servers connect to their own services when you sign in or play online. See the privacy page for the website's current status.