Amazon held its 2020 hardware event today. Among some of the main highlights of the event is its new cloud gaming platform called Luna. The service was in the rumors for over a year now so this launch does come as much of a surprise. Previous rumors mentioned a codename Tempo. However, today’s event reveals that the service will officially be named ‘Luna’.
Amazon has not yet given a launch schedule for the service. Initially, Amazon has plans to launch it for PC, Mac, Fire TV, and iPhone and iPad. There is an Android version in the works that will come after the launch. Amazon has started an early access program for people in the US. users can sign up for the program starting today. There is no news about international availability as of yet.
Amazon has also announced that the service will start from $5.99 as an introductory price. The early access plan includes gaming simultaneously on up to two devices with resolution up to 4k running at 60 FPS. Amazon will use AWS servers for this service as well. Since this service will rely on AWS, and Amazon already has a vast network established worldwide and we can expect availability to widen in the near future.
Amazon also said that currently, they plan on having about 100 game titles on the platform. In the launch phase games like Resident Evil 7, Control, Panzer Dragoon, A Plague Tale: Innocence, The Surge 2, Yooka-Laylee, GRID, Abzu, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons will be available. Amazon has promised to add more games in the future as the platform matures.
In addition to talking about games, Amazon also announced that they will partner with Ubisoft in the near future for a ‘Gaming Chanel”. The channel might feature exclusive news and giveaways for Ubisoft game son Luna. Amazon describes this as “Players who subscribe to this channel will have access to their favorite Ubisoft titles in up to 4K resolution, mobile gameplay, and access to new titles when the channel launches like Assassins Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6, and Immortals Fenyx Rising the same day they release”.
They also said this will not be the only channel that they plan on having once the platform goes public. Amazon said there will be multiple channels ” where customers can play games from their favorite publishers and genres.”
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One of the major trends in content creation right now is twitch streaming. keeping up with the trends Luna will also feature a twitch integration. Players will be able to see twitch streams inside the platform they will also be able to stream their own luna gameplay. Amazon has also put forward its own controller that comes with Alexa. The early access pricing for this controller is set to $49.99
This is not the first time we see amazon making its way to the gaming industry. They have tried various gaming-related avenues over the years. Amazon Web Services hold servers for some of the most popular online games out there. More recently Amazon bought the mainstream streaming website Twitch. Amazon also has its own games like Crucible and New World in the works.
Having their own platform will surely ease them into launching these games. In addition, we already explained that amazon already has servers throughout the world unlike some of their competitors. This will make service deployment a lot easier for Amazon. For more sign-up information check the official webpage here.