Control, Sonic, & More Available On Fire TV Through Luna Early Access
Amazon's gaming addition to their portfolio of streaming services, Amazon Luna, has been available in early access through invitation only since its launch in September 2020. Now, Amazon Luna is opening its doors to the public but is still reserved to early access. Luna is extending its cloud-based gaming platform to Amazon's Fire TV, although those that don't have a Fire TV can still request access to Luna on its website. The platform has mostly been filled with smaller indie hits, with a few major titles tossed in, but their list of available games is growing to include more games that might catch customer's eyes.
Amazon Luna is stepping a little late into the game, with competition from both Microsoft and Google having a head start in a subscription-based game streaming service. Microsoft has the more popular Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, with over 100 titles from both first and third-party publishers. It charges customers one monthly subscription fee for access to its library of rotating games as well as EA Play and Ubisoft+ that can be played on various devices. Google Stadia also gives players access to Ubisoft+ as well as its expanding list of titles on the platform. It has been getting some bad press lately though as it has cut out all internal developers to concentrate on third-party games, leading to some issues, and it is currently facing a lawsuit for not pulling through on their promise that all games would run in 4K on Stadia.
Luna lands somewhere between these two companies, not hemorrhaging employees like Stadia, but also without as much to offer as Xbox Game Pass. The Amazon Luna Medium site is now inviting new customers to download the Luna app on their Fire TVs to be treated to a 7 day free trial of Luna+. This is one of the channels that Luna is offering for $5.99 per month after the free trial has ended, and it has included some favorites in this channel like Control, Metro Exodus, Sonic Mania, and GRiD, with a promise to add more games each month. Customers can also subscribe to the Ubisoft+ channel for an additional $14.99 per month and get access to some new and popular titles like Immortals Fenyx Rising and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Along with sharing its new gaming service with the general public, Amazon has opened sales for its Luna Controller which integrates with Luna, and gamers don't need an invitation to buy this accessory. The Luna Controller is actually a comfortable piece of hardware, probably because it looks exactly like the Xbox One Controller. The Luna Controller is not necessary to play games on Luna however, any compatible controller, like the DualShock 4 or the Xbox One Controller, can be connected via Bluetooth to Luna and a Fire TV.
The company boasts positive feedback from customers, although there are still some problems that the platform is struggling with. These problems stem from the idea of cloud-based gaming in today's realistic technological era. Internet speeds are not quite there yet, or too expensive, to support streaming a game. The Amazon Luna Blog admits that it is still getting started, and more customers in early access can help Amazon to improve on Luna, so they can perhaps catch up with its competitors.
Source: Medium/Amazon Luna
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