Competitor enters the field…

Every day you wake up
to new events in the tech world – and today Amazon has announced a cloud gaming
platform called Luna.

This news doesn’t come
as a surprise to us, as the rumors have been making rounds since last year.
However, we do know that this platform was initially named Tempo. The
Amazon-produced gaming controller leaked right before the 2020 hardware event.

We’re not exactly sure
as to when the gaming platform will be launched widely, but we do know that in
the first phase, it will be accessible to users of PC, MAC, Fire TV, iPhone,
and iPad via web apps. The android version is not yet in the cards, but they’re
saying that it will launch the production phase after the launch. Furthermore,
nobody has confirmed whether the app would reach globally or not.

The introductory price
is set at $5.99 a month for the first phase. This way, subscribers will get the
chance to play Luna Plus Channel games via different devices – apparently, it
offers 4K / 60fps resolution for some time. In future, it is expected to be
powered by AWS, Amazon’s ubiquitous web platform.

According to Amazon,
100 games are available on the Luna Plus channel, including Resident Evil 7,
Control, Panzer Dragoon, A Plague Tale: Innocence, The Surge 2, Yooka-Laylee,
GRID, Abzu, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, etc. More titles are expected to
get added in future. Amazon has also partnered up with Ubisoft to introduce a
gaming channel, and this is how Amazon has described 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.”

Amazon has also
revealed that players will get to see Twitch streams for games in the service,
and as for the Twitch users, they’ll have instant access to start playing Luna
games. These games can be played using a mouse and keyboard, and even a
Bluetooth controller!

Amazon has made another
announcement regarding Alexa-enabled Luna Controller. Apparently, it will cost
around $49.99 in the first phase of the launch. According to the company, this is
how it will work:

“Luna Controller is
Alexa-enabled and connects directly to the cloud to effortlessly control your
game, featuring a multiple-antenna design that prioritizes un-interrupted Wi-Fi
for lower latency gaming. In fact, our testing showed a reduction in roundtrip
latency when playing Luna Controller with Cloud Direct vs. Luna Controller via
Bluetooth, with reductions of between 17 to 30 milliseconds among PC, Fire TV,
and Mac. Because the Luna Controller connects directly to cloud servers,
players can easily switch between screens — such as Fire TV to mobile phone —
without additional pairing or configuration changes.”

Amazon has had a bumpy
relationship with gaming over the past couple of years. They’ve tried to dabble
in different businesses including Twitch. The company has also developed quite
a few games of its own like the Online Shooter Crucible. Poor launch, honestly.

Now the company is
working on a game with multiplayer called New World. It was supposed to be
released in the summer, but of course, due to the pandemic, it has been delayed
until 2021.

With Luna, Amazon is
directly competing with Google Stadia and Microsoft’s Cloud. We must say, the
cloud gaming space is going through a serious evolution!