Everything since 1.3 points to consolidation between the platforms. The "optimizations" made to the game has been nothing but downgrades for the PC game.
There are many threads about this already.
There's no Mac version since Horizons will not work on the current software. Did Frontier tell them that when they released ED for Mac? No.
Did Frontier know it would not work? Yes, they did.
If what you say about the Xbox game and Horizons is true, do the Xbox players know this?
I'm glad for you that you're hopeful for this game. I wish I could share that outlook.
I dont even play this game anymore, I just pop in at these forums at times to see if I can find a reason to do so again.
Not this time.
Those graphics changes, they weren't a 1.3 thing, they started with the Mac port, Metal doesn't support DX9 fully, nothing higher is supported at all, and that's on Apple to fix, no one else, it's their OS. FD has a thing about continuity, a thing they are finally realizing isn't sustainable thank the gods, but while they were following it, no version of the game could look better than any other version, and the Mac version was the low man on the totem pole for graphics, so...all the graphics 'optimizations', thank the Mac port for that, not the console, XBOne supports DX11 natively, DX12 with a software upgrade, and it's hardware is better than many of the Macs and PCs running the game right now.
Did Frontier know that Mac didn't support DX9 fully and DX11 at all? Yes, I'm sure they did, it's not a secret after all, it's been an issue for years, but like most of us in the industry, they figured Apple would pull their collective heads out and fix that. Apple didn't, Apple actually has shown NO intention of doing so as it happens, they've actually pretty much totally left OSx on the side of the road and now work on iOS and anything done for OSx is simply a side effect of iOS updates that can be translated, that's it. Macs aren't a good revenue stream, iPhones and iPads ARE the revenue stream now, so all work is concentrated on them. Sucks, but hey, that's how it goes.
So FD made the call finally, Macs are left behind, can't fix the problem and Apple doesn't care, so go ahead and go with DX11. Stats show that the majority of the systems running Elite Dangerous are 64 bit systems, 99%+, so bump that up as well, gives you FULL DX11 support as 32 bit can't do it properly, and it gets you set for DX12 upgrades, as that is a 64 bit only app.
Why XBOne isn't getting Horizons, you got me on that, it's DX11 natively, it's a 64 bit OS, and it's hardware exceed the min specs for Horizons, so...no idea at all. I figure that will come shortly, reasons why it's not done, again, no idea at all.