Amazon Introduces Cloud Gaming Service, Luna (The Future of Gaming)

 

Whatsup Guys how are you I hope you all are going good today we will discuss about the future of Gaming you guys know the gaming culture is growing in a faster rate so to support this amazon announces his new cloud gaming platform to compete with google stadia(those who dont know what is stadia have a look at my previous blogs there I clarify the brief of google stadia so as of now we will discuss about Amazon cloud gaming services so lets start,

Amazon Luna is an upcoming cloud gaming service developed and operated by Amazon. Announced on September 24, 2020, Amazon Luna will have 100 different games at launch in October 2020, will have an introductory price of $5.99 a month, and will be powered by AWS. 

The streaming service will have integration with Twitch and will be available on PC, Mac, Amazon Fire TV, and iOS. Amazon has partnered with Ubisoft to create a gaming channel exclusive to Luna, which will give Luna subscribers access to Ubisoft's titles the same day they release.

A "Luna Plus" subscription will cost $5.99 per month as part of an invite-only early access program. A controller designed for the service will also be sold, with "early access" pricing of $50, though gamers will also be able to use an Xbox One or PlayStation DualShock 4 controller, as well as a mouse and keyboard to play. 

Running on Amazon's AWS servers, games will stream at up to 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second at launch (with 4K support teased as "coming soon"), though a full list of titles wasn't immediately available. 

The company says that games available in the early access period will include Control, Resident Evil 7, GRID, Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

 Ubisoft will be among the early notable publishers on the platform, including bringing Assassin's Creed Valhalla to Luna, although no timeline was given for when its games would arrive beyond, again, "coming soon."

The company says that Luna will be available on Fire TV, Mac and PC, as well as through "web apps" for iPhone and iPad so long as those devices are running iOS 14. The use of web apps seems to be how Amazon is getting around Apple's App Store restrictions, which have previously blocked Microsoft from offering its xCloud gaming service for iPhone and iPad users. Google's Android is not listed as a launch platform but is "coming soon."

 No exact release date was given for Luna, but those interested can request an early access invitation on Amazon's website.

Initially, Luna will launch in early access on Fire TV, PC, Mac and iOS devices, including iPhones and iPads. Notably, it won’t be available on Android right away. The Android version should go live within “weeks” of the early access launch, according to Luna head Marc Whitten.

 Whitten and other Luna executives don’t attribute the temporary iOS exclusivity to Amazon's mysterious sweetheart deal with Apple, which allows Prime Video to sell media directly on the App Store without giving Apple 30 percent of its sales. The 30 percent cut is standard for essentially every other paid program on the iOS marketplace, and it's one of the main reasons Epic Games is suing Apple this year.

 Executives also don’t attribute the iOS-first launch to xCloud's provisional exclusivity on Android platforms. Microsoft’s game-streaming platform, xCloud, isn't available on iOS because of that 30 percent fee and the fact that Apple “consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps,” according to Microsoft. 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.”

Amazon is aiming to have about 100 games available during the early beta period, spread between Luna+ and the Ubisoft channel.

“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 90, 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.”

 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.