AMAZON LAUNCHED LUNA, ITS CLOUD GAMING SERVICE

During its annual Alexa hardware event, Amazon presented Luna, its new cloud gaming service. With this move, the company became an immediate competitor to Google’s Stadia, Microsoft’s xCloud, Sony’s PlayStation Now, and a number of other services from major game publishers.

According to the company, with Luna and the scale and capability of Amazon Web Services (AWS), it’s easy to stream high-quality, immersive games. Players can enjoy Luna games on their favorite devices without lengthy downloads or updates, expensive hardware or complicated configuration. They can even start playing on one screen and seamlessly pick up and continue on another. At launch, Luna will be available on Fire TV, PC, and Mac, as well as on web apps for iPhone and iPad, with Android coming soon.

“We created Luna to make it easy to play great games on the devices customers already own and love. It’s day one for Luna—we are excited to work with gamers, streamers, and publishers like Ubisoft and Remedy Entertainment to build a great gaming experience for everyone,”  said Marc Whitten, Vice President of Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services.

Players can already subscribe to the Luna+ game channel. During early access, Luna+ will include action games like “Resident Evil 7,” “Control,” and “Panzer Dragoon”; adventure games like “A Plague Tale: Innocence” and “The Surge 2”; platformers like “Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair” and “Iconoclasts”; and fan favorites like “GRID,” “ABZU” and “Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons”. Luna+ will be offered at an introductory price of $5.99/month during the early access period, with more titles to be added over time. Additionally, Luna+ subscribers can play on two devices simultaneously and get resolutions of 4K/60fps for select titles.

Amazon also announced a new gaming channel with leading global video game publisher Ubisoft, available directly through Luna. 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.

"We're proud to be working alongside Amazon on Luna, utilizing the power of cloud gaming to provide our players with another way to access our games, wherever they are. Ubisoft's channel on Luna will allow players to experience our new releases along with many of our catalog games, while enjoying player-friendly features like Alexa and Twitch integrations,"  said Chris Early, SVP of Partnerships and Revenue at Ubisoft.

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. Furthermore, customers can play Luna with a keyboard and mouse, a Bluetooth game controller, or the new Luna Controller with Cloud Direct technology. Luna Controller is Alexa-enabled and connects directly to the cloud to effortlessly control the game, featuring a multiple-antenna design that prioritizes un-interrupted wifi for lower latency gaming.