Amazon opens early accesses to Luna, Amazon's cloud gaming

Amazon last month opened early accesses to Luna, a new cloud gaming service based on Amazon Web Services (AWS). For now, only in the US.

Luna will be available on Fire TV, PC, Mac, and on web apps for iPhone and iPad, with Android coming soon.

According to Amazon, players can enjoy Luna games on their favorite devices without lengthy downloads or updates, expensive hardware, or complicated configuration. Amazon says players can also start playing on one screen and seamlessly pick up and continue on another. Amazon also launched a controller with low latency.

“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.

Luna+ game channel includes action games like Resident Evil 7, Control, and Panzer Dragoon; adventure games like A Plague Tale: Innocence and The Surge 2; platformers like Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair and Iconoclasts; and fan favorites like GRID, ABZU, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

Luna+ will be offered at an introductory price of $5.99/month during the early access period.

Luna+ subscribers can play on two devices simultaneously and get resolutions of 4K/60fps for select titles.

Why cloud gaming matter?

The tech giants are making investments in cloud gaming, as this is one area that grabs user attention. 7 hours and 7 minutes each week. according to a survey from Limelight Networks.

With the success of Twitch and AWS, Amazon can lead the way. Steam, owned by Valve, could become a target for acquisition. Apple last year launched Arcade, and rumors say it will launch an Apple TV ready for better games. Google is continuously investing in Stadia, the direct cloud gaming competitor of Luna. Microsoft is investing in Xbox. Sony in Playstation, and Facebook in Oculus.

If the games are in the cloud, there will be a natural step to create programmatic digital ad placements in-game.