Another competitor enters the field. It isn’t even a surprise now. Amazon releasing a cloud gaming service has been rumoured since the year 2019. 2020 is the year its finally here. Amazon announced a cloud gaming service called Luna. It was, however, previously codenamed Tempo. Earlier today, an Amazon controller got leaked ahead of today’s event. But it is for another time.
So far, it is unclear when and where will the Luna be available. However, so far it is set to be available on the Fire TV, PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad. An Android version is in the planning stages. The service is said to be available at a rumoured introductory price of $5.99 (€5.1) per month during its early access phase. This will give subscribers the ability to play Luna Plus channel games across two devices simultaneously. It offers 4K / 60fps resolution for “select titles.” Naturally, it will be powered by AWS, Amazon’s ubiquitous web platform.
What Will the Amazon Luna Have?
Amazon has stated that Amazon Luna will have more than 100 games. These will be available via the Luna Plus channel. The launch titles include Resident Evil 7, Control, Panzer Dragoon, A Plague Tale: Innocence, The Surge 2, Yooka-Laylee, GRID, Abzu, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Amazon has also said that more titles will be added ‘overtime.’ The Amazon Luna will also have a specific gaming channel which will only have Ubisoft games.
Here is how Amazon describes it: “Players who subscribe to this channel will have access to their favourite Ubisoft titles in up to 4K resolution, mobile gameplay, and access to new titles when the channel launches like Assassins Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6, and Immortals Fenyx Rising the same day they release. This is the first of multiple Luna game channels in development, where customers can play games from their favourite publishers and genres.”
Amazon Luna is also set to feature a twitch integration. “Inside the Luna experience, players will see Twitch streams for games in the service, and from Twitch, they’ll be able to instantly start playing Luna games,” Amazon said. Players will be able to play the games either with a mouse or a controller. For the people, who don’t have a controller, Amazon has also announced its own Alexa-enabled Luna Controller. This controller is set to cost $49.99 during the early access period.
How Is The Amazon Luna Expected To Work?
Luna controller will be Alexa enabled. It is meant to connect to the cloud effortlessly. Luna will control your game. It features a multiple-antenna design that prioritizes un-interrupted Wi-Fi for lower latency gaming. Amazon’s testing showed a reduction in the round trip latency when playing Luna Controller with Cloud Direct vs. Luna Controller via Bluetooth. With reductions of between 17 to 30 milliseconds among PC, Fire TV, and Mac. Because the Luna Controller connects directly to cloud servers, players can easily switch between screens — such as Fire TV to a mobile phone — without additional pairing or configuration changes.
In the past, Amazon has had a curious relationship with gamers within the past few years. Not only amazon owns the gaming service Twitch, but it also develops its own game. Its most popular game is the online shooting gamed named Crucible. Amazon is also working on a massively multiplayer game called New World. This was originally slated to debut this summer before being delayed to 2021.
The Amazon Luna is also available for early access here. However, it is only available in the US.
