Amazon Luna is a

cloud gaming Cloud gaming, sometimes called gaming on demand or gaming-as-a-service or game streaming, is a type of online gaming that runs video games on remote servers and streams them directly to a user's device, or more colloquially, playing a game rem ...

platform developed and operated by

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

. Luna was announced on September 24, 2020, with early access available to subscribers by invitation beginning on October 20, 2020. In its early access state, Amazon Luna will feature about 100 different games combined, with an introductory price of $5.99 a month, and will be powered by

AWS Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. These cloud computing web services provide di ...

. Luna will have integration with Twitch and will be available on

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

, Mac,

Amazon Fire TV Amazon Fire TV (stylized as amazon fireTV) is a line of digital media players and microconsoles developed by Amazon. The devices are small network appliances that deliver digital audio and video content streamed via the Internet to a connec ...

, and iOS (as a progressive web app) on launch, as well as

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

shortly after. Amazon has partnered with

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include ''Assassin's Creed'', '' Far Cry'', ...

to create a gaming channel exclusive to Luna, giving Luna subscribers access to Ubisoft's titles the same day they release. The Ubisoft+ (Beta) channel costs an additional $14.99 per month. Luna early access is currently only available to subscribers within the United States, with international release yet to be confirmed. It is set to launch as Amazon's competitor to other cloud gaming platforms like

Google Stadia Stadia is a cloud gaming service developed and operated by Google. Known in development as Project Stream, the service debuted through a closed beta in October 2018, and publicly launched in November 2019. The service was to compete with Sony ...

, Xbox Cloud Gaming,

PlayStation Plus PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

cloud streaming, and GeForce Now.

Games

Controllers

Luna supports control through

keyboard and mouse A game controller, gaming controller, or simply controller, is an input device used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game, typically to control an object or character in the game. Before the seventh generation ...

, the Xbox Wireless Controller, and the DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers. The Luna Controller is an optional accessory selling for $59.99. It comes in a single color (black) and features dual analog sticks, a

D-pad A D-pad (short for directional pad or digital pad; officially referred to by Nintendo as a +Control Pad) is a flat, usually thumb-operated, often digital, four-way directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern vi ...

, two sets of shoulder buttons, four main A/B/X/Y face buttons, and four other face buttons. A microphone is built in, allowing support for

Amazon Alexa Amazon Alexa, also known simply as Alexa, is a virtual assistant technology largely based on a Polish speech synthesiser named Ivona, bought by Amazon in 2013. It was first used in the Amazon Echo smart speaker and the Echo Dot, Echo Studio ...

. The controller can connect through

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio w ...

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limit ...

, or a

USB-C USB-C (properly known as USB Type-C) is a 24-pin USB connector system with a rotationally symmetrical connector. The designation C refers only to the connector's physical configuration or form factor and should not be confused with the conne ...

cable.

Reception

In a review of Amazon Luna in March 2021, a CNN article praised the service for its lower price point compared to Stadia and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and praised its user interface whilst criticising occasional lag issues and its initial game lineup. A review from

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and film theories. ''Screen Rant'' was launched by Vic Holtreman in 2003, and originally had its primary office in Ogden, Utah. ''Scr ...

criticized the channel setup, arguing that those who want the full experience will end up paying more than similar services. The review remarked that the service feels misguided, with an unclear target audience, and considered it too impractical to recommend to consumers. However, it also stated that it may be a good replacement to a console for people who prefer using subscription services.

References

External links

* {{Video game streaming services Cloud gaming services Cross-platform software Amazon (company) 2020 in video gaming Subscription video game services