Why does my MacBook Pro M2 keeps shutting down?

you have a hardware problem:

  2025-03-17 21:48:23 Kernel Panic (2 times)

    First occurrence: 2025-03-14 19:02:18

    Details:

      SOCD report detected: (AP watchdog expired)

SOCD is the name of System-On-a-Chip Daemon, the software that watches for gross errors on the system on a chip, and it is finding some.

see if you can find a complete panic report in

/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports

they are named with date&time and start or end in "panic"

Fan control is generally not a good idea. Apple does not publish the actual calibrated settings of the fan, and much of it has to be done with guesswork. Completely remove the fan control software by using a provided uninstallation software, or Freemacsoft's AppCleaner when none is provided. AppCleaner can remove residual memory resident components as long as you boot the computer in safe mode with its built-in Shift key.

can you post a bit more from that report? the underlying reason for the panic was not included in what you posted -- only that a watchdog timer fired, but not which one for what reason.

sorry I overlooked this:

"AP watchdog timer expired"

that timer is set when you connect to a server or external drive. if the connection is lost, that timer might fire.

I think the work-around is to disconnect your un-needed external drives when playing.

Run the third party app EtreCheck and post the complete report here so we can examine it for possible clues.

How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting an EtreCheck Report - Apple Community

Also, try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected.

Disconnect all external devices from the computer in case one of them is causing a problem.

Does the laptop only shutdown while playing the game, or does it shutdown at other times as well?

I agree with @Grant. Usually when you have different Kernel Panics, it usually indicates a hardware issue usually associated with bad memory.

It doesn't surprise me that it may only occur when playing a game since games tend to stress the hardware differently than most other apps. Unfortunately I am unaware of any way to actually test the hardware of these M-series Macs since all of the diagnostic utilities I use with Intel Macs don't work with an M-series Mac. The Apple Diagnostics rarely detect hardware issues even when a hardware issue is confirmed through other methods.

Check with the game developer if they support the graphics processor of the computer. Remember mobile graphics processors are not the same as desktop.

ADP000 says, "In the minuscule amount of time it was run, using a very small set of specific tests, no faults were detected."

that is a fr cry from "All is Well"

say, that one is different.

it says there was a panic while panicking. and the reason was a bad kernel "instruction". You could be experiencing memory errors if you get more.

Check for Mac OS updates

Update to current software asap!