Short answer
Supported means tested, permitted by the anti-cheat system, and covered by the support team. If your operating system is not on the publisher's list, the client may still install and then fail, and support has nothing to offer. Check the publisher's stated requirements against your own system information first. Where a game names Windows and macOS only, a Linux desktop is outside support — including through compatibility layers, which anti-cheat software may refuse outright.
What "supported" is a claim about
Three separate things sit behind a platform list. The first is testing: the combinations of operating system, graphics driver and hardware the developer actually exercises before a release. The second is anti-cheat: the component that watches for tampering, which often runs at a level of the system that differs between platforms and is the reason some titles are Windows-only regardless of anything else. The third is support: whether a ticket about your configuration will be worked on at all.
This is why a game can be technically capable of running somewhere it is not supported, and why that fact is of limited comfort. An unsupported configuration receives no fixes, can be blocked at any patch, and produces errors that no guide will match.
Reading a requirements list properly
Publishers usually give two sets of figures. Minimum describes a configuration the game is expected to start and run on, typically at low settings and a modest resolution — it is a floor, not a recommendation. Recommended describes a configuration the developer considers a reasonable experience at moderate settings. Neither figure mentions the resolution or frame rate it assumes unless the publisher says so, which is why two people with identical hardware can disagree about whether a game "runs well".
- Operating system version matters as much as hardware. A supported system that is several major versions behind may fail on a component the current client expects.
- Storage figures are for installation only. Updates grow a client over time, and the download needs temporary space alongside the final size.
- Graphics memory is a hard limit. Exceeding it produces stutter rather than a lower frame rate, which is covered on the performance page.
- An internet connection is a requirement, not a footnote, for an online-only game: without it there is no offline mode to fall back on.
Finding out what you actually have
| What you need | On Windows | On macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Operating system version | Settings › System › About, or run winver | Apple menu › About This Mac |
| Processor and memory | Settings › System › About | Apple menu › About This Mac |
| Graphics hardware | Run dxdiag and read the Display tab | About This Mac, then System Report › Graphics/Displays |
| Free storage | Settings › System › Storage | Apple menu › System Settings › General › Storage |
| Processor architecture | Settings › System › About, under System type | About This Mac names an Apple chip or an Intel processor |
Macs: two architectures, one label
Mac support is more layered than a single tick suggests. Machines built on Apple silicon and older Intel Macs are different architectures, and a client may support one, both, or one through Apple's translation layer with a performance cost. Apple describes how applications built for Intel run on Apple silicon in its own Rosetta documentation.
In practice: check whether the publisher names Apple silicon specifically, note that an Intel-only client running through translation will not perform like a native one, and remember that graphics drivers on macOS arrive with system updates rather than separately, so "update your driver" means "apply the system update".
Linux, and why it is so often excluded
Plenty of desktop games list Windows and macOS and stop there. The reasons are practical rather than ideological.
Why publishers exclude it
- Anti-cheat components often depend on platform-specific behaviour that has no supported equivalent.
- The range of distributions, kernels and graphics stacks multiplies the testing matrix.
- A support team has to be able to reproduce a fault before it can fix one.
What that means for you
- A compatibility layer may launch the game and still be blocked by anti-cheat at any update.
- Faults on an unsupported system will not be investigated, and guides will not match your errors.
- Dual-booting a supported system, if you have a licence for one, is the route that stays inside support.
Some advertising programmes state the same restriction from the other direction. The programme that funds this site, covering World of Warships, specifies desktop Windows and Mac and excludes Linux; mobile and console are outside it as well. That restriction is a fact about the programme and the client it covers, and it is the reason this site does not publish Linux workarounds for it.
System requirements change with each major update, so the publisher's current page is the authority rather than any summary:
Visit the World of Warships website
Advertising link. EDOLIN s.r.o. earns a commission if a reader registers and activates an account through it. The price to you is unaffected, and the commission plays no part in what this page recommends checking.
Virtual machines, streaming and shared computers
- Virtual machines are rarely supported for games. Graphics performance is limited, and anti-cheat systems frequently refuse to run inside one.
- Cloud streaming services shift the requirement from your hardware to your connection, where steady latency matters far more than raw speed. The connection page covers what that depends on.
- Managed computers — issued by a workplace, a school or a university — usually block unapproved installations by policy. That block is intentional and should be left alone.
- Shared family computers raise a separate question about who the account belongs to, since progress, payment methods and communication features are attached to it.
Classification is a separate question from system support
Whether a game will run on your machine says nothing about whether it is suitable for the person who will play it. In Australia, computer games are classified under the national classification scheme, and the Australian Classification Board maintains a searchable database of classified titles along with the consumer advice attached to each. Where a game sells randomised in-game items, that is a matter to consider on its own terms; it is discussed on the purchases page.
A five-minute check before any large download
- Your operating system and version appear on the publisher's supported list.
- Your processor architecture is one the client is built for.
- Graphics hardware meets at least the minimum figure, and the driver is current.
- Free space covers the installed size plus headroom for the download and for future updates.
- You have checked whether the connection is metered or shaped before starting a transfer of this size.
- The download is coming from the publisher's own domain or a storefront you already use.
Related reading on this site
- Installing and launching — once the download starts.
- Naval games compared — platform support for several titles side by side.
- Frame rate and graphics — for a supported system that still runs poorly.