Amazon announced today that it will be trying its hand at cloud gaming by announcing a new service called Luna. Amazon had been teasing a cloud gaming service for about a year now so this announcement doesn’t come as much of a surprise to some.
As of right now, there is no official release date for Luna but it was stated that it will be available for PC, Mac, Fire TV, iPhone, and iPad initially. An Android version is in the works and will be available at some point after the service launches.
Amazon is enabling early access to those who wish to try out the gaming service. Early access is available starting today and is limited, at the moment, to the United States. There is currently no word on international availability.
As for how much it will cost, Amazon stated that there will be an introductory price of $5.99/mo during the early access phase. They did not state what the final price will be once the service officially launches. The games are able to be played across two devices simultaneously and claim to run at 4K resolution at 60 fps. However, that is only for select titles which means not all titles on the service are guaranteed to perform at the same level.
The service will be powered by Amazon’s own AWS web platform.
When it comes to Luna’s library, Amazon stated that is has more than 100 games lined up for its Luna Plus channel. Some of the titles listed were:
- Resident Evil 7
- Control
- Panzer Dragoon
- A Plague Tale: Innocence
- The Surge 2
- Yooka-Laylee
- GRID
- Abzu
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Naturally, more titles will be added over time. Amazon already announced a partnership with Ubisoft where they will have their own dedicated gaming channel on their service so expect to see some of their titles in the future.
A controller for Luna was also unveiled to mixed reactions. Some people on social media were comparing it to Nintendo’s Switch Pro controller, stating that it looked nearly identical to it. These were the same people that also said the Nintendo Switch Pro controller also looked like the Xbox controller when it came out so take those arguments for what you will. As for the controller itself, you can check that out below:
If you don’t like the controller, Amazon stated that you can also use a mouse and keyboard to play or a Bluetooth controller of your choice. Amazon’s Luna controller was priced at $49.99 but that price was also stated for the introductory period as well with no word of what the final price will be.
For those looking to stream their games, Luna will also support Twitch integration.
