Amazon’s new streaming service Luna is the company’s entry into the surprisingly competitive cloud gaming market. Here’s why that matters.
Amazon Luna, Amazon’s new cloud gaming service was unveiled just days ago.
“Introducing Luna, Amazon’s cloud gaming service where it’s easy to play great games on devices you already own. No waiting for lengthy downloads or updates — just play.”
This is how Amazon describes their brand new cloud gaming service, Luna. Announced just days ago, this is the newest entrance into the recently expanding market. Amazon follows tech giants Google, Microsoft, and NVIDIA’s entrance into the cloud gaming market, with their respective services, Google Stadia, Microsoft xCloud, and NVIDIA GeForce Now.
Currently Luna is only accessible through an early access request, as shown in the image above.
According to Amazon, “Luna is accessible on PC, Mac, Fire TV and web apps for iPhone and iPad,” which is a big step more accessible than what other companies provide. For example, Google Stadia is accessible on PC, Chromecast, and Android, in terms of playability. xCloud is in beta access through Xbox Game Pass, on Android. NVIDIA’s GeForce Now is available on PC and Android.
The reason this is such a big change compared to the other services, is with the web apps for iOS. Up until the last couple of days, Apple has prevented any cloud streaming services from being accessed on iOS. After Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple, which will be covered soon, Apple has since allowed game streaming services, but only with individual approval and separate apps for each game.
Amazon skips the entire process by using web apps, which have been proven to be an easy way to access cloud gaming. For example, Stadia is even accessible in standard Chrome tabs. This little detail allows Amazon to completely bypass literally any rule that Apple applies to cloud gaming on iOS.
Ok, but what about the games?
Amazon has announced a unique form of game access….
Channels
What? What are channels? Like, cable channels?
Yes. Amazon is charging individual fees for every gaming channel they provide, starting with a $5.99/month Luma+ channel, and an Ubisoft channel coming soon. You pay for access to individual channels, allowing you to get all access to that channel, like individual Game Passes.
Amazon has also announced a new controller, designed especially to connect directly to Amazon Web Services, to reduce roundtrip latency.
