Amazon games announced that its cloud based game streaming platform Luna officially withdrew from the beta version, which can now be used by any interested user in the mainland of the United States.
Originally launched in September 2020, Luna is a subscription service that allows users to register for one or more theme “channels” where they can play built-in video games through web browsers, fire TVs or tablets or a variety of supported mobile devices.
These games are streamed to users’ devices through Amazon Web services without any local installation or update. You can start playing an available game from the Luna menu in a few seconds.
Compared with other similar services such as Xbox game pass, Luna’s pricing is more like cable TV and less useful. The initial monthly fee you pay Luna ($9.99 / month, unless you are a beta version, you can keep the basic fee of $6.99 / month if you republish it before March 31) only covers its core content “channels”, and additional channels can get additional funds.
This includes a Ubisoft + feed ($17.99 / month), which includes the latest libraries of the company’s games, such as expedition 6, Assassin’s Creed valhara and rainbow 6: siege; There is also the home channel ($2.99 per month), a cheap extra channel that focuses on games of all ages, including skatebird and wandersong.
The team behind Luna has quietly added some additional features to make the service more interesting for game lovers. In September, nearly a year after the launch of the beta version of the service, it announced a cooperation function for Luna, which effectively added local multiplayer mode and audience mode to games that are not usually available on the service.
For the official release of Luna, it increases the compatibility with Amazon twitch platform, so players can stream media directly from Luna and use built-in software to provide real-time video. In theory, with a QR code, a fire TV and fire tablet as temporary webcam and microphone, the streamer can start and run in a few seconds, which allows novices to quickly enter twitch streaming games.
Amazon has also added a major game channel for Luna, which provides streaming games that Amazon super members can play for free. March’s first releases include Capcom’s “hacker and killer devil 5”, “Ubisoft’s immortality: the rise of Fenix”, “retro adventure flashback” (yes, the 1992 one), the independent psychological horror game “Observer” and the British puzzle game “phogs!
In addition, there is a Luna controller application for IOS and Android, which works with fire TV as a temporary game board and two new paid channels. Retro ($4.99 / month) includes a compilation of early games in the Street Fighter II: Super combat, metal warhead 3 and castle series; Jackbox games ($4.99 / month) collects all eight private label party packages from jackbox.
Although additional channels can accumulate quickly, Luna’s advantage is that it is still cheaper than buying many games on the service alone. The price of Ubisoft + channel is extremely high, but considering the scale and / or replayability of many Ubisoft games, it is still relatively cheap.
Of course, Luna has the same disadvantages as other cloud based services. It may take up a lot of bandwidth in a short time, especially in HD games, and it is very sensitive to latency, especially when you try to play a game that needs to be connected to Luna and its servers at the same time.
Luna’s biggest weakness may be its software lineup. Although there are still many good games on Luna, they are also relatively old. At the time of release, its subtitles include control (2019), team sonic racing (2019) and saints III: Reinventing (2020 version released in 2011). For newcomers or returning players, the price of this game is very attractive, but game lovers may own or at least have played many such games.