While Microsoft and Xbox received a lot of criticism for the statement “the future is in the cloud”, it seems they were merely ahead of the curve. With Stadia chugging along and Xbox having launched their Cloud Streaming service as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Amazon is now preparing to throw it’s hat into the ring.
Amazon’s service is called “Luna” and it will launch “soon” beginning at $5.99 per month as an introductory price. The features touted are as follows:
- Play on two devices simultaneously
- Up to 4K/60fps support for “select titles”
- More than 100 titles available at launch including titles like Resident Evil 7, A Plague Tale, GRID, and more
- Native Twitch integration
- You can sign up for Early Access here
The following statement was offered:
Players who subscribe to this channel will have access to their favorite 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 favorite publishers and genres.
A Luna controller will also be offered for $49.99. The following details were shared:
Luna Controller is Alexa-enabled and connects directly to the cloud to effortlessly control your game, featuring a multiple-antenna design that prioritizes un-interrupted Wi-Fi for lower latency gaming. In fact, our testing showed a reduction in roundtrip 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 mobile phone — without additional pairing or configuration changes.
Our Take
We’ve known for some time that Amazon was preparing to launch a game streaming service and this lines up very similarly to Stadia’s offering. From a pure gaming perspective, it feels pretty lackluster out of the gate. However, with Amazon’s reach and ownership of Twitch, they have a tremendous opportunity to reach an awful lot of consumers. In that vein, while it’s easy to dismiss this for “hardcore” gamers, it will really come down to marketing and implementation which Amazon has traditionally been very strong with. And keep in mind of course, that AWS is already one of the premiere cloud backbones globally. Thus, this is going to be interesting to watch unfold. We will certainly keep you posted as we learn more.
