Amazon Announces Luna, Its Own Cloud Gaming Service

Amazon today announced Luna, its very own cloud gaming service. As with all cloud gaming services, like Google's Stadia, the idea here is that folks can subscribe to the service in order to instantly play video games via app or browser rather than having to buy a console or PC. At launch, Amazon Luna will be available on Fire TV, PC, and Mac in addition to web apps for iPhone, and iPad with Android set to follow. Amazon customers in the United States can request early access to Amazon Luna over on the official website.

"Introducing Luna, Amazon's cloud gaming service where it's easy to play great games on devices you already own," the official site states. "No waiting for lengthy downloads or updates — just play." It would seem that Amazon Luna will include multiple different gaming channels which people can subscribe to for access to different publishers and the like. For example, Amazon Luna will have the Luna+ game channel available for an introductory price of $5.99 per month during early access, which includes video games like Resident Evil 7, Control, A Plague Tale: Innocence, Iconoclasts, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and more. Luna+ also allows for two devices to stream games simultaneously in addition to 4K/60FPS for certain titles.

"We created Luna to make it easy to play great games on the devices customers already own and love," said Marc Whitten, Vice President, Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services, as part of today's announcement. "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."

In addition to Luna+, Amazon announced that it has entered into an agreement with Ubisoft to include a gaming channel for the publisher as well which will feature titles like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Immortals Fenyx Rising when they release. This is just the first of several gaming channels on Amazon Luna that are in development, according to Amazon.

"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," said Chris Early, SVP of Partnerships and Revenue, Ubisoft, as part of the announcement. "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."

As hinted at above, Amazon Luna will feature heavy Twitch integration, which Amazon also owns. Players will be able to view Twitch streams for games on the service from within Luna as well as start playing Luna games from Twitch. This is the same sort of integration Stadia has touted with YouTube in the past, which are both Google services.

Notably, Amazon Luna also has its own Alexa-enabled controller. While Luna games can be played with keyboard and mouse or a Bluetooth game controller, the Luna controller specifically makes use of Amazon's cloud servers to connect directly and can swap between screens without any pairing or configuration shifts. The Luna controller is available for $49.99 for now, though it would seem all prices are subject to change once the early access period ends.

You can check out a photo of the new Amazon Luna controller below:

Amazon Luna does not currently have an official launch date as of yet. As noted above, interested folks can request an invitation to the early access period over on Luna's official website. The Luna+ gaming channel currently costs $5.99 per month while the Luna controller costs $49.99. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Amazon right here.

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