Amazon’s cloud-gaming service Luna is available now to select gamers in the United States. The company launched the platform today in early access. You can request to join this beta period on the company’s website. You pay $6 per month to subscribe to the Luna+ Game Channel that starts with a library of 50 games.
In a blog post, Amazon’s Marc Whitten explained that Luna is going to start small. His team plans to invite only a fraction of “hundreds of thousands of requests.” The idea is to use this beta to improve Luna for its eventual full launch, according to Whitten:
We are just getting started and need streamers and players of all kinds—core, casual, and first-time gamers—to provide feedback. We want to hear what customers like, what they don’t like, and what they want to see us build. If we’re doing something great, tell us. If we’re missing the bar, we want to know that too.
As part of early access, Luna’s Ubisoft channel is not yet live. Amazon says that is coming soon, and it will include Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. The Ubisoft channel will also get the company’s other games the same day as they launch on other platforms.
Beta participants can also purchase the $50 Luna Controller, which Amazon designed to work specifically for cloud gaming. Like Stadia’s gamepad, the Luna Controller connects to Wi-Fi, so it can hook into Amazon’s servers directly.
While Amazon is running tests to prove that Luna’s technology is functional, it may end up proving that few gamers care about the cloud. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are racing toward their November launch dates, and they seem likely to hog the spotlight with their more robust first-party software offerings.
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