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Everything you need to know about the Amazon Luna cloud streaming service

There's a brand new cloud streaming service on the way, but is it worth your time and money?

Everything you need to know about the Amazon Luna cloud streaming service
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Here we go, yes, it's yet another brand new cloud streaming service bursting its way onto the market and offering a bunch of PC and console AAA games to play wherever we are, on our mobile devices. The year is 2020, and the future is finally here my friends.

Amazon's Luna announcement came out of nowhere, but it makes a lot of sense. Amazon owns Twitch, a huge gaming platform that millions of people use, and have attempted to make their own video games. A streaming platform seems like the next logical step, especially since becoming a hardware manufacturer comes with a lot more risk.

So, what exactly is Luna offering to gamers, and why should you care? Well obviously you should care because you can play these games on your mobile device, but whether or not this service can keep up with the likes of Google Stadia and Microsoft's xCloud is another question entirely.

We've answered the big questions right here, so just scroll down below to find out everything you need to know about Amazon Luna.

What is Amazon Luna?

Amazon Luna is a cloud streaming service that appears to be directly competing with services such as Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud. With Amazon Luna you'll be able to play a whole host of AAA quality console and PC titles via your mobile device as long as you're connected to the internet.

Games on the Amazon Luna service will be run on a Windows PC in a server centre, and then everything will be streamed to your mobile device with (hopefully) very little latency.

How much will Amazon Luna cost?

Amazon Luna will be launching with a very fair early-adopter price of $5.99 per month which gives you access to all games available on the service - that's right, no buying a game separately in addition to the subscription, making this instantly a much better deal than Google Stadia.

If you ask me it would make far more sense to bundle Amazon Luna in with Amazon Prime and Prime Gaming, even if it required a small price increase over time, but I suppose not everything is perfect.

What platforms is Amazon Luna available on?

Amazon Luna's platform list is fairly impressive, though comes with a few obvious caveats…

  • PC
  • Mac
  • Fire TV
  • Web apps for iPhone and iPad

So, first off, no Android - though it is planned to be launched later. Next, it is nice to see that it is included on iOS devices, even if it has to go through a web browser instead of a dedicated app. I'm sure we'll see Android support in the future.

Oh, it's also only available in the US, so sorry to everyone else in the world, but you'll be waiting a bit longer before being able to play…

What games will be included in Amazon Luna?

As of right now there is no dedicated or exhaustive list of games that will appear on the service, but we are able to see what Amazon is teasing via their Luna site. We can rest assured that they will include a bunch of new AAA releases, including…

  • Control
  • Sonic Mania
  • Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair
  • GRID
  • Metro Exodus
  • The Surge 2
  • Resident Evil 7

That is just the beginning of the list, and for a small extra fee each month, the latest Ubisoft games will soon be added to that list, including the upcoming Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Let's hope that these extra channels will be just as affordable as the main service.

Will Luna be better than Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud?

Now that really is the question, and it's impossible to answer until we get to try it ourselves, but as long as Amazon play their cards right, it's very possible.

The service is temporarily locked to the US only, but that gives Amazon the time and flexibility to test the service without being overloaded by players eating up bandwidth. In addition to that, they have the new Luna controller, which directly interacts with the cloud service in a similar manner to the Stadia controller.

It's still certainly up in the air, and we'll have to hold our judgement until we actually get to go hands-on with it ourselves, but as of right now, Amazon Luna looks like it could be a very good game streaming service, and if nothing else, will force Stadia and xCloud to improve their services to hold onto their market share.

Dave Aubrey
Dave Aubrey
Dave is the Guides Editor at Pocket Gamer. Specialises in Nintendo, complains about them for a living.