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Amazon announces Luna, a new gaming streaming service hosted in their AWS cloud

--R

--R

Being sued right now, please help me find a lawyer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,808
EispskbXsAAcpSd

Just announced at their event. $6/mo on Early Access, controller will be $49.99. With titles like Resident Evil 7, Control, Tacoma, Rez Infinite, Metro Exodus, The Sexy Brutale, Overcooked! 2. They're planning to add 4K/60 support but so far it's 1080/60. Will be integrated with Twitch on Day 1. The platforms this will be in are Fire TV, PC, Mac and iOS with an Android version coming a few weeks after the early access launch.

With Luna, Amazon has discovered another way to circumvent Apple's App Store fees. Luna is a progressive web application (PWA), which means it's actually a browser-based program masquerading as a native iOS app. You'll download the PWA from the Luna website, and the resulting icon on your iPhone's home screen will function like a shortcut to Amazon's cloud gaming portal on the web.

As a PWA, Luna is not involved in the App Store at all.

"Just to be super transparent, on iOS, it is through the browser," Whitten said. "So it's not a native app in the App Store."
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Luna will cost $5.99 -- at least -- in early access. That price unlocks access to Luna+, the baseline channel that will feature a mix of games, including Resident Evil 7, Control, Tacoma, Rez Infinite, Metro Exodus, The Sexy Brutale, Overcooked! 2 and others. Not all of the titles listed up there will be available on day one, but they're all on the early access docket.

Luna will have more channels with curated content, each available at an additional, as-yet-unknown cost. The first confirmed channel comes from Ubisoft, and will include a broad selection of games from the publisher's catalog, plus same-day releases of upcoming titles including Far Cry 6, Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Immortals Fenyx Rising.

Amazon is aiming to have about 100 games available during the early beta period, spread between Luna+ and the Ubisoft channel.
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The channeled approach to game streaming was borrowed from Amazon's Prime Video experience, which offers certain stations as paid additions. That said, Luna will evolve as early access carries on and the feedback rolls in.

"You may even see other types of channels like a genre-based channel," said Marc Whitten, Amazon's head of Luna. "Or other ways to think about specific pieces of content that might be very attractive to a certain set of customers."

Amazon specifies that $5.99 a month is the price of a Luna+ subscription during early access, so this base price is likely to change with the launch of Luna 1.0.
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"So more than Stadia, less than Game Pass," Luna business development manager Lisa Schwenke said. Microsoft recently integrated xCloud into its Game Pass Ultimate subscription service and offers more than 150 streamable titles, while Stadia has about 50, some of which are purchased individually. Schwenke continued, "The goal is to continue to have something for everyone, see what customers are enjoying and try to bring more of that. So definitely starting out a little bit smaller during early access, I think there'll be about 50 titles in our Luna Plus channel and about 50 in the Ubisoft channel, and just growing that over time consistently."
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What do I need to play on Luna?
You need a high-speed internet connection, compatible game controller or mouse and keyboard, and supported PC, Mac, Fire TV, iPhone, and iPad.


What are the device requirements to play on Luna?
You can use the Luna app on:
  • PC (requires Windows 10 with support for DirectX 11)
  • Mac (OSX 10.13+)
  • FireTV devices (Fire TV Stick - 2nd gen, Fire TV Stick 4K, or Fire TV Cube - 2nd gen)
Additionally you can use:
  • Chrome web browser (version 83+) for PC and Mac
  • Safari web browser (iOS14) for iPhone and iPad
We are working to add support across more devices in the future


Which controllers are compatible with Luna?
You can play with the Luna Controller, Xbox One controller, DualShock 4 controller, or use a mouse and keyboard.


What internet speed do I need for Luna?
The minimum recommended internet connection speed for streaming games is 10 Mbps (35 Mbps required to play in 4K). Better internet connections will result in improved streaming quality and resolution.


How long will early access pricing for Luna+ last?
$5.99/month introductory pricing is only available during Luna early access. Your Luna+ subscription will renew at the applicable monthly subscription price after the Luna early access period is over. We will notify you at least 30 days in advance of the end of early access to ensure you are informed of the new monthly subscription price, along with information on how to manage your subscription. You may cancel your subscription at any time.
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dims

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More information here.
Official site to sign up (US only)

 
Last edited:
Perkin_Warbeck

Perkin_Warbeck

Member
Jan 27, 2020
3,385
Washington, DC
wat

Edit: this doesn't sound like something that would tempt me away from just using Geforce now right now. If they included it with prime, I'd probably try it, but I'm not going to pay out another 6 bucks a month for a mediocre game selection.
 

KoolAid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,681
image.0.png


At its 2020 hardware event today, Amazon announced a cloud gaming platform called Luna. The news isn't too surprising: the service has been rumored since last year, previously codenamed "Tempo," while an Amazon-made game controller leaked out just ahead of today's event.

It's not clear when Luna will launch widely, but it will initially be available on PC, Mac, Fire TV, and iPhone and iPad (via web apps), with an Android version planned for after launch. Amazon says that interested users in the US can request early access to the service starting today. There's no word on international availability.

The service will be available for an "introductory price" of $5.99 a month during its early access phase, which gives subscribers the ability to play games across two devices simultaneously and offers 4K / 60fps resolution for "select titles." Naturally, it will be powered by AWS, Amazon's ubiquitous web platform.

Amazon says more than 100 games will be available, and launch titles include Resident Evil 7, Control, Panzer Dragoon, A Plague Tale: Innocence, The Surge 2, Yooka-Laylee, GRID, Abzu, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Amazon says more titles will be added "over time." The company has also partnered with Ubisoft for a specific "gaming channel." Here's how Amazon describes it:

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. This is the first of multiple Luna game channels in development, where customers can play games from their favorite publishers and genres.
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Already looks better than Stadia if you ask me.

www.theverge.com

Amazon announces new cloud gaming service called Luna

Another big company jumps into cloud gaming.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
 
105-Shake

105-Shake

Member
Aug 13, 2020
1,947
Luna will also feature Twitch integration. "Inside the Luna experience, players will see Twitch streams for games in the service, and from Twitch, they'll be able to instantly start playing Luna games," Amazon says. Games can be played either with a mouse-and-keyboard or a Bluetooth controller.
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Did stadia ever get their youtube integration worked out?
 

KoolAid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,681
The fact that it's subscription based and not buying games already makes it better than Stadia.
 

Deleted member 43084

Banned
May 9, 2018
3,600
The only companies that can really pull off cloud gaming streaming are Google, Microsoft, and Amazon due to the necessary server compute, so this was inevitable. Vertical integration makes extra sense too.
 
Finaj

Finaj

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,362
I'm surprised they went through with this after Stadia's disastrous launch, and this looks like it has less interesting launch titles too. At least it looks like you only need a subscription.
 
RLCC14

RLCC14

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,447
They can't launch a hero shooter nor an MMO, and they think they can manage a game streaming service. LMAO
 
KOfLegend

KOfLegend

Member
Jun 17, 2019
1,795
It's all fun and games until Amazon starts buying studios :(

I absolutely hate game streaming. It's legitimately inaccessible to me.
 
jwk94

jwk94

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,429
The fact that PS Now isn't even mentioned among the competitors is sad. This could be really good, though. Will keep my eye on it.
 
Scott x 2

Scott x 2

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,411
Apologies if this is stated somewhere, but can I check, are any games included in the subscription or does this require you to purchase them outside of the 'channels' they're offering?
 
Bigkrev

Bigkrev

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,329
With Luna, Amazon has discovered another way to circumvent Apple's App Store fees. Luna is a progressive web application (PWA), which means it's actually a browser-based program masquerading as a native iOS app. You'll download the PWA from the Luna website, and the resulting icon on your iPhone's home screen will function like a shortcut to Amazon's cloud gaming portal on the web.

As a PWA, Luna is not involved in the App Store at all.

"Just to be super transparent, on iOS, it is through the browser," Whitten said. "So it's not a native app in the App Store."
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The big news is that this is launching on iOS, they got around the restriction by making it browser based so Apple can't stop it
 

Deleted member 46008

user requested account closure
Banned
Jul 18, 2018
58
Begun, the streaming war has.
Edit: Microsoft, google and amazon are the big three of cloud servers right? With all three officially in the game streaming space, we'll probably see more and more deals and acquisitions take place as they try to scrounge up content.
 
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digitalrelic

digitalrelic

Weight Loss Champion 2018: Biggest Change
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,124
Only way this finds any success is if it's included with Amazon Prime.
 
Kuga

Kuga

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,272
And this is what Microsoft is competing against with Game Pass -- not just Sony.
 
Border

Border

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,859
When your launch lineup is nothing but games that are 2+ years old, I don't think that's a very encouraging sign.
 
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