Luna is Amazon’s new cloud gaming service that was announced last year at the company’s product launch event. At a glance, it’s an answer to options like Stadia, GeForce NOW, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and Shadow.
What exactly is Luna, though? Should you care about the service and is it worth your time? Maybe one of the other cloud gaming services is a better fit?
In this guide we’ll walk you through exactly what Luna is and what it offers, so you can make the decision on whether or not you should be interested in it and give it a try.
What is Amazon Luna?
Luna is a cloud gaming service that is offered by Amazon. It was announced September 24, 2020, and is the company’s entry into the space that already contains major players like Stadia, GeForce NOW, Shadow, and Cloud Gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Amazon was rumored to be entering the cloud gaming space last year, but little was known about it back then. Now, a lot more detail has been shared about it. Including what it costs, what games you can play, and where you can play them.
There’s still a lot about Luna that Amazon is changing or adding. But now it’s possible to use the service. The idea is to offer people a slightly different model for cloud gaming than what’s currently available from competitors. Luna will offer a variety of different games from publishers you know and love. Some of them will be new and some of them will be a bit older.
The whole point of Luna, much like with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Stadia, is that you don’t need to download games. There’s no having to wait for games to install. you simply find a game you want to play and you launch it. Boom. Done.
If that sounds appealing to you, then you may want to consider keeping an eye on Luna and signing up to request access to it.
What games are available on Luna?
Like Amazon says, Luna has something for everyone when it comes to games. As for what games are available, there’s actually a fairly wide variety of titles now. You’ll some of the biggest games of the last few years as well as some old favorites. Resident Evil VII: Biohazard – Gold Edition for example is available to stream.
There’s also more recently added titles like Immortals Fenyx Rising, Ride 4, Far Cry New Dawn Deluxe Edition, and even Ghostrunner. You can also find Abzu, Everspace, Monster Boy And The Cursed Kingdom, Bloodstained Ritual of The Night, and Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of Dana. All of these are located in the Luna+ channel. Some of them are also titles which have been added to Stadia over the least few months.
Some of the newer games to be added to Luna are the service’s games for June and July, which include Yakuza 0, The Falconeer, Killer Queen Black, DiRT 5, Saints Row The Third – Remastered, and Valkyria Chronicles 4 Complete Edition. The newest games for the service though landed this month, which includes Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead.
So many of the games you see on Luna will be available through other cloud gaming options.
In addition to the Luna+ channel, there’s also the Ubisoft+ channel, which as you may have guessed is filled with a ton of different Ubisoft games. Far Cry New Dawn, The Division, The Division 2, and Watch Dogs are just a handful of the different available options. But there’s also some fairly recent titles like Immortals Fenyx Rising (mentioned above), and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
As Luna grows, more channels are likely to be added as well. Though at this time Amazon has not shared anything specifically. It does stand to reason however that as long as things continue to go well, Amazon will add more partners to the program and roll out channels for them which contain only their games. Access to these would also cost extra as it does with the Ubisoft+ channel.
Recent games
When it comes to recent games, the latest titles to hit the service include Thymesia, Kingdoms Of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider, Windjammers 2, Close To The Sun, Severed Steel, Freshly Frosted, Baseball Stars 2, and YouTubers Life: OMG Edition.
Update: December 12, 2022
For this month, subscribers get access to Dusk, Windjammers 2, The Legend Of Heroes: Trails From Zero, Joggernauts, and The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf. You can also now stream select Ubisoft games on Luna if you own those games on PC without needing the Ubisoft+ subscription.
What devices can I play on?
Amazon’s big thing here is letting you play games on the devices you already own. This is going to be limited to begin with, but it will hopefully start to expand soon.
Now that the service is open to some players, you’ll be able to access it on Fire TV (any TV or device that has Fire TV baked into it), Mac, iOS via web apps, and PC. The service is also now available on Android devices, which Amazon just launched back in December of 2020.
As of September 9, Amazon added Fire Tablets and Chromebooks to the compatibility list.
Hey @TheCodeB00K, as Raghu from Team Luna explains below, you won’t have to wait very long for Android support (or, like, at all). Play Luna with early access now: https://t.co/IU81kXZouU pic.twitter.com/aVDCbQcP64
— Amazon Luna (@amazonluna) December 15, 2020
How do I get access to the service?
At the moment Amazon has made Luna an invite-only service. This means you can’t quite yet sign up and create an account to play games whenever you want.
You can however sign up to request access, as it’s currently in a beta form. So long as you get an invite after requesting access, you can play games via the Luna+ and Ubisoft+ channels on the supported devices. There is one platform where you can access Luna without an invite at this point and it’s through Amazon’s Fire TV devices. Though not all Fire TV devices will be compatible.
Sign up for access will not guarantee you a spot to play. It is however your best shot right now at trying Luna out. As the beta continues, following its availability going live, Amazon will eventually open it up to more people. Perhaps anyone that cares to test it out.
If you’re interested in trying the service, make sure to request access by signing up.
Update: March 1, 2022
Amazon today has announced that Luna is now available to anyone within the mainland US. You can sign up for the service and start playing games without the need for an invite.
How much does Luna cost?
The service is available at an introductory cost of $5.99 a month during the current beta period. This has also been the cost since the early access started back in 2020.
Since this is only the beta price though, it will probably cost more when it launches fully. When it’s open to everyone and not just those invited.
This is also the cost for the Luna+ channel only. If you want access to the Ubisoft+ channel, then it will cost you $14.99 a month for access (The price is increasing to $17.99 a month on September 30). However, you do not have to subscribe to both. You can actually choose to subscribe to either the Luna+ channel or the Ubisoft+ channel. You can subscribe to both if you prefer though. And then have a lot more games to play.
What controllers work with the service?
Amazon supports a handful of different controllers and has since the service went into early access. This includes the Luna controller, the Xbox One wireless controller, and the DualShock 4.
You can also use a mouse and keyboard if you’re playing games on your PC. Which might be the preferred input method for some.
There will undoubtedly be more compatible controllers down the line, but in the beginning Amazon is starting small with the most popular and most used controllers out there. And it makes sense.
Now, that isn’t to say that other controllers won’t work. They might. But Amazon doesn’t list anything else as officially supported. So anything other than what was mentioned here may not work at all.
What features does Luna have?
You might be surprised at what’s available. Then again maybe not. Since this is Amazon-owned, it naturally has integration with Alexa.
You can ask Alexa to play games and it’ll launch the game you mention. Not unlike Google has done with Stadia and Google Assistant. Luna also has integration with Twitch. Another Amazon-owned brand.
You can watch Twitch livestreams on Luna and then from those streams launch into a game on the service yourself. Amazon also recently added the ability to access a new channel called the Family Channel. Which contains a curated list of games that are fun and appropriate for all ages.
In addition, there’s also a new feature called Luna Couch, where you can play local co-op and multiplayer games without having to be in the same room.
What sort of resolution does Luna support?
Amazon says that the service will support up to 1080p resolution for most games.
Some games will support up to 4K, but none of those are currently available on the service right now. Amazon says 4K is coming soon, so this is expected to pop up once the beta period is over. At the moment you can choose to play games at either 720p or 1080p. This can be changed in the settings menu once you’re logged into Luna.
What internet speed do I need?
The recommended internet speed is 10Mbps for your download speeds for everything that is streaming at 1080p.
If you’re going to stream in 4K, which isn’t available at the moment and probably won’t be during the beta period, you’ll need a minimum of 35Mbps download. As always though, the faster and stronger your internet connection, the better your streaming experience will be. So keep that in mind. Also note that streaming in higher quality will use up more internet bandwidth.
Currently, running games at 1080p will chew through about 10GB an hour according to Amazon. And about half of that if you’re streaming games at 720p.
Where is Luna available?
The service is pretty limited for the early access period.
To start, Luna will be available in the US only. This excludes Hawaii, Alaska, and any US territories. Amazon hasn’t announced any plans for expansion outside the US at the moment. Though it likely will expand after early access, and perhaps even during.
For right now, the mainland US is still the only available region where Luna is up and running.
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