Game streaming continues to build up momentum, and now Amazon is joining the fun.
The company today announced its new Luna cloud-based gaming service, which joins the ranks of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's cloud gaming feature, GeForce Now, PlayStation Now, and Google Stadia. As a cloud gaming service, Luna runs games on Amazon's own AWS servers, then streams them directly to your device of choice.
Luna is a game streaming platform, and will offer at least two separate subscription plans. For $5.99 per month (which Amazon notes is "early access pricing"), Luna+ offers a library of console games from a variety of publishers. A full list has not been released, but confirmed games include Control, Resident Evil VII: Biohazard, Sonic Mania, and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Ubisoft will be available as a separate Luna channel, and will include new games like Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. Pricing has not yet been announced for the Ubisoft channel.
Luna will work on PCs, Macs, iOS devices, and Fire TV devices at launch, with Android support planned for the future. The Luna+ channel will allow two simultaneous game streams at once, while the Ubisoft channel will only offer one. Both can stream games at up to 1080p at 60fps, with support for 4K streaming planned for later.
Luna Controller (Image: Amazon)
Subscribers can use Luna with Bluetooth gamepads and mice/keyboards, but Amazon also announced its own Luna Controller for $49.99 (again, early access pricing). The controller connects to the internet over Wi-Fi, rather than connecting to the client device (computer, phone, Fire TV Stick), which then forwards its inputs to Amazon's servers.
According to Amazon, this can reduce latency by 17 to 30 milliseconds compared with a Bluetooth controller. If true, that's an impressive feat and could make the Luna Controller a must-buy for the service, since input lag can quickly kill a good game-streaming experience.
Wi-Fi connectivity and separate connection to Amazon's servers also give the Luna Controller another benefit: portability. Since it uses your Wi-Fi connection to directly send inputs to Amazon, it doesn't need to be paired with every device you use to play Luna. The gamepad will work immediately with any client device logged into the same Amazon account. The Luna Controller also features Alexa, with a built-in microphone for loading games with your voice.
Amazon has not announced when Luna will launch, but users can request early access to the service for when it does go live.
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