Amazon has announced that its cloud gaming service, Luna, is now entering early access. The company announced the service, which isn"t unlike Google"s Stadia, at an event earlier this month, when it began taking registrations to join the testing period. Amazon says it received "hundreds of thousands" of requests to test Luna, which is an impressive number considering it"s only available in the United States.
Invitations will start being sent out to a "small set" of customers who signed up to test Luna. Once users receive an invitation, they can start using Luna on Windows, Mac, Fire TV devices, and iOS through web apps. Android support will come later, which is interestingly an opposite approach to what Google and Microsoft took with their own cloud gaming services. Google Stadia and Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming are currently only available on Android due to Apple"s App Store policies, but Amazon is bypassing them by using a web app instead.
A core part of Luna is channels, starting with Luna+. This is similar to how Stadia Pro works on Stadia, giving customers access to a library of games for a monthly fee, and there are 50 games to choose from to start. The channel subscription costs $5.99 during the early access period, though a final price has yet to be revealed. However, companies can launch their own channels on the service, with Ubisoft being one that"s already announced (though there isn"t much in the way of details). This allows other companies to make their games available through their own subscription on Luna.
The Luna Controller is also only available for those with early access invitations, though you can use any Bluetooth controller you already have. The Luna Controller costs $49.99, and it supports Cloud Direct technology, so it can connect directly to the game in the cloud, rather than a specific device.