Amazon has begun inviting consumers to test out the company’s cloud gaming service Luna.
On Tuesday, Amazon kicked off the early access beta for Luna by sending out the first invites to interested users. And apparently interest in the service is high.
“We’ve received hundreds of thousands of requests for early access, and starting today, we will begin granting invitations to a small set of customers in the US to join us and help shape the future of gaming on Luna,” Amazon wrote in a blog post.
During the early access phase, the company will be asking gamers for input on how well (or badly) the service is working. “We are just getting started and need streamers and players of all kinds—core, casual, and first-time gamers—to provide feedback,” Amazon added.
To get an invite, you can go to the Luna landing page and request early access. The company will then send an email invite once more spots become available. However, the beta won’t be free. Amazon is charging early access users $5.99 a month; in return subscribers will get access to 50 games including Control, Metro Exodus, Sonic Mania, and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
The main advantage with cloud gaming is how you don’t need to buy the expensive hardware to run the games. Instead, Luna can stream the game from Amazon’s cloud servers to your laptop, Fire TV stick or smartphone. The only key requirements are a 10Mbps or higher internet connection and preferably a broadband plan without data caps.
Amazon’s Luna is poised to compete directly with Google’s own cloud gaming service, Stadia. However, a key difference is how Luna offers the subscribers a library of free games to play with the $5.99 pricing. With Stadia, you have to pay $9.99 a month, and then buy the games you want to play, which can individually cost around $50 or more (although Stadia does offer some free titles too.)
We’ll have to wait and see if Luna can maintain the low pricing. Amazon’s FAQ for the service does note the company will notify customers at least 30 days in advance of any changes to the subscription price.
Upcoming Ubisoft titles such as Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion are also heading to the service. But we suspect Luna will end up charging consumers a higher price to gain access to them.