A M2 Air would probably be sufficient, just get at least 16GB of RAM. Gaming is not great on Macs, even high end ones, use the money saved from buying a Pro Max and use it for Geforce Now, or an Xbox + Gamepass.

Could be, but Airs are their best seller so they might not have enough chips to match demand. And the 15” launched just a few months ago

Apple has also tested updated configurations for memory, or RAM, including new 24-gigabyte and 48-gigabyte options.

I wonder if they’re finally upping the base RAM configs. M3 start at 16GB then upgrade to 32GB, M3 Pro 24GB then upgrade to 48GB.