Reasons for concern
In a recent interview with The Memory Core newsletter, GameSir acknowledged that its chief motive for publishing a Windows emulation tool was to boost sales of its controllers. However, GameSir’s controllers aren’t necessary to run the Android edition, which the company says was sideloaded onto 5 million (mostly Chinese) Android devices even before its official Google Play release in November.
Credit:
GameSir
GameHub’s Windows emulation runs on Android, though it suffers from several issues.
Credit:
GameSir
GameHub’s Android release has also been criticized for bundling numerous invasive trackers (which are removed in a community-built Lite version). A GameSir spokesperson told The Memory Core that this was common practice in the Chinese market, where there’s less concern about such user tracking, and said the trackers have since been removed.
The spokesperson also responded to questions about reusing open-source compatibility code, saying the Windows emulator was “developed in-house by GameSir’s core engineering team” with its “own in-house compatibility layer (such as syscall hooks, GameScopeVK, and other technologies), rather than modifications to Wine’s core code.” That said, the representative conceded GameFusion “reference[s] and use UI components from Winlator [an open source Windows emulation tool for Android]… to maintain ecosystem compatibility and familiarity.”
The compatibility shortcomings and the controversial company behind the project likely mean GameHub for Mac won’t deliver the Valve SteamOS/Proton moment Apple gamers have hoped for. Still, it will be useful for MacBook users to have another option to run Windows games without installing a Windows system.
