Support us on Patreon
PayPalStadia, GeForce NOW and Microsoft's own xCloud have more competition coming with Amazon formally throwing their controller onto the sofa with Amazon Luna.
Amazon Luna will give you access to certain Channels of games which you subscribe to. The first two announced are Amazon's own Luna+ to get access to a "growing" library and Ubisoft are also confirmed to have their own subscription channel coming to it too. The Luna+ subscription will have 100s of games from big names too like Resident Evil 7, Control, The Surge 2, A Plague Tale: Innocence and a great many more. By the time it launches, it's going to have quite a full library already.
Instead of the Stadia and GeForce NOW model, they're very much going for a 'Netflix of games' style that Microsoft is doing with things like Game Pass. Just like Google Stadia, Amazon Luna will have its own dedicated Alexa-enabled gamepad which connects directly to Amazon through WiFi which is supposed to help reduce latency which is the biggest problem with these services.
Luna will come with heavy Twitch integration too, including showing you Twitch streams for games across the Luna service. This makes sense, since Amazon own Twitch. This is where it gets really interesting, and something Google has been ridiculously slow on with Stadia. You will see Twitch streams inside Luna, and be able to click play and jump right into a game while watching on Twitch. The power of that cannot be understated.
Currently, early access to Luna is available exclusively by invitation and even then that's only in the USA. Everyone else will just have to sit and wait until Amazon open it up further.
It's not clear if it will work on Linux or be supported at this time. However, Amazon did mention it can be played in a Chrome browser so it's quite likely it will be able to run on Linux just like Stadia and GeForce NOW. Full press release available here and you can find the Luna page here. Once we find out more and any Linux details, we will let you know.
How long until Valve throw their Steam Controller onto the sofa and announce their own? If they don't, they might end up as one of the only major gaming stores not to at this rate. The cloud game streaming wars have truly begun now. How do you feel about it?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
Mohandevir Sep 24, 2020
How long until Valve throw their Steam Controller onto the sofa and announce their own?
We always have the choice, but Valve is in a position where it could crush everyone of them, if they don't wait too long. I'm affraid that's what might play against Valve... Valve time.
The train is leaving the station, they should jump onboard before it's too late. New market... Better early than late.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 24 September 2020 at 6:58 pm UTC
3 Likes, Who?
Kinda worried about the future honestly... so much fragmentation, everybody wants its own thing.
12 Likes, Who?
Kinda worried about the future honestly... so much fragmentation, everybody wants its own thing.Especially with all of them going for subscriptions. I’m not going to pay 20$ a month to five different services to play one game on each.
13 Likes, Who?
Perkeleen_Vittupää Sep 24, 2020
Kinda worried about the future honestly... so much fragmentation, everybody wants its own thing.
And in the end, all paths lead to Linux...
4 Likes, Who?
Kimyrielle Sep 24, 2020
Kinda worried about the future honestly... so much fragmentation, everybody wants its own thing.
If they overdo it, it will fail. Just like now literally every movie studio, no matter how insignificant, thinks it needs to start its own streaming service with exclusive content for $15 a month. Remember the times when Netflix had ALL content for the same 15 bucks? Netflix is already established, and Disney is big enough to get away with it, but the rest of them will just die. In the meantime the only ones profiting from the fragmentation are the online pirates...
I suppose it will go down the same road here. These services will try to handcuff customers to their service by signing as many exclusive deals as possible, so gamers will face having to subscribe to 3 or 4 of them just to get the games they want. Which is not very attractive, so they will go back to Steam where they can get everything they want in one place.
*shrug*
9 Likes, Who?
So what exactly is their architecture? Are they running Linux on the server like Stadia or Windows like Geforce Now?
10 Likes, Who?
the only thing left is to know, will they servers run linux? or windows?
i know that linux is the king when it comes to servers, but that isnt stoping nvidia from using windows with geforce now to get acess to the windows ecosystem of games.
i wonder why we cant have an "open handset alliance" with all the companies who want to have games on linux to improve the ecosystem of their platforms.
samsung tizen, tesla who is working with unity developers to improve their runtime on their system, google with stadia, valve with steamOS, and if amazon is using linux, they too.
if they joined efforts temporarily in porting multiplatform games, and focused their efforts in exclusives to differentiate then selves, they all would have an better chance to enter in the market dominated by sony/nintendo/microsoft.
instead looks like they're going with an "winers takes it all" aproach, paying again and again to do the same ports...
i know that linux is the king when it comes to servers, but that isnt stoping nvidia from using windows with geforce now to get acess to the windows ecosystem of games.
i wonder why we cant have an "open handset alliance" with all the companies who want to have games on linux to improve the ecosystem of their platforms.
samsung tizen, tesla who is working with unity developers to improve their runtime on their system, google with stadia, valve with steamOS, and if amazon is using linux, they too.
if they joined efforts temporarily in porting multiplatform games, and focused their efforts in exclusives to differentiate then selves, they all would have an better chance to enter in the market dominated by sony/nintendo/microsoft.
instead looks like they're going with an "winers takes it all" aproach, paying again and again to do the same ports...
2 Likes, Who?
i wonder why we cant have an "open handset alliance" with all the companies who want to have games on linux to improve the ecosystem of their platforms
I feel like the likes of Valve and Google could form a Linux gaming alliance and promote Linux gaming in more collaborative way. Too bad Google doesn't care. It doesn't look like Amazon cares either. Even their Lumberyard is lagging with Linux support.
3 Likes, Who?
btw, purple is my favorite collor, so this background is automagically beautyfull
and the name is a perfect fit.
but the controller, looks like some one just glued togheter 2 pieces to pretend they were just one...
hopefully i'm right and you can change the base depending on your hands size...
Last edited by elmapul on 24 September 2020 at 7:43 pm UTC
and the name is a perfect fit.
but the controller, looks like some one just glued togheter 2 pieces to pretend they were just one...
hopefully i'm right and you can change the base depending on your hands size...
Last edited by elmapul on 24 September 2020 at 7:43 pm UTC
3 Likes, Who?
DamonLinuxPL Sep 24, 2020
Even their Lumberyard is lagging with Linux support.Not lagging, they drop support for it long time. While cryengine (original, not fork) still supports it...
0 Likes
Not interesting as long as Valve keeps pushin linux gaming directly. On the desktop and also VR. The Valve Index is one of the greatest piece of tech ever as well as Proton! Keep that in mind.
3 Likes, Who?
btw, purple is my favorite collor, so this background is automagically beautyfullI heartily endorse the purpleness of it.
and the name is a perfect fit.
but the controller, looks like some one just glued togheter 2 pieces to pretend they were just one...
hopefully i'm right and you can change the base depending on your hands size...
The controller has a bit of purple theme going, too, so it's not all bad.
1 Likes, Who?
What I keep wondering is, OK, we got these streaming game services. A couple already, plus Amazon now. Soooo . . . what's their market share like?
There's plenty of hype, and some people clearly are playing them. But are they catching on? Are they eating anyone's lunch? Or are they currently a relatively fringe thing, for all the talk? Is it a bandwagon Valve better jump on, or just mostly a money sink? Note that I'm willing to buy either possibility, I'm just complaining I don't have the data to judge from.
It's the same thing I've been wondering about the Epic store, which I haven't heard as much about lately. Everyone was talking how Valve needed to do various things to meet this threat, and they mostly didn't, and it's still unclear whether they had any need to.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 24 September 2020 at 9:15 pm UTC
There's plenty of hype, and some people clearly are playing them. But are they catching on? Are they eating anyone's lunch? Or are they currently a relatively fringe thing, for all the talk? Is it a bandwagon Valve better jump on, or just mostly a money sink? Note that I'm willing to buy either possibility, I'm just complaining I don't have the data to judge from.
It's the same thing I've been wondering about the Epic store, which I haven't heard as much about lately. Everyone was talking how Valve needed to do various things to meet this threat, and they mostly didn't, and it's still unclear whether they had any need to.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 24 September 2020 at 9:15 pm UTC
4 Likes, Who?
What I keep wondering is, OK, we got these streaming game services. A couple already, plus Amazon now. Soooo . . . what's their market share like?
There's plenty of hype, and some people clearly are playing them. But are they catching on? Are they eating anyone's lunch? Or are they currently a relatively fringe thing, for all the talk? Is it a bandwagon Valve better jump on, or just mostly a money sink? Note that I'm willing to buy either possibility, I'm just complaining I don't have the data to judge from.
It's the same thing I've been wondering about the Epic store, which I haven't heard as much about lately. Everyone was talking how Valve needed to do various things to meet this threat, and they mostly didn't, and it's still unclear whether they had any need to.
Hmmm for me, I'd just repeat good old industry wisdom I was administrated, don't be the first one to do, be the first one to do at the right time.
I'd say game streaming is very promising BUT:
- First, latency and bandwidth issues are not yet solved
- Second, I doubt "game pass like" services are sustainable in the long term. The cost to make a modern game is very high, so if you want to recoup the cost of a subscription giving away a few games every months (day 1) you would need to either have a very high price, or cut on development cost. If you choose the first one, you'll lose users who just can't pay that price (not even counting that you won't have a monopoly etc etc). If you choose the second one, people will prefer to buy games that are better realized/more interesting. You can see that with xbox vs ps5, where the PS5 still seems to lead, and mostly because of the exclusives.
- This bring me to say that valve should not rush too much yet, and come to market with a clean solution both for price and latency. For now, even in home streaming is far from perfect. But if they can solve that, and make the experience hassle free for most, then they should jump. And then use their own leverage to create their own subscription model: keep the games you already possess, and add some games every month to some pool + some reduction seems to be the most reasonable for me.
2 Likes, Who?
Mohandevir Sep 24, 2020
What I keep wondering is, OK, we got these streaming game services. A couple already, plus Amazon now. Soooo . . . what's their market share like?
There's plenty of hype, and some people clearly are playing them. But are they catching on? Are they eating anyone's lunch? Or are they currently a relatively fringe thing, for all the talk? Is it a bandwagon Valve better jump on, or just mostly a money sink? Note that I'm willing to buy either possibility, I'm just complaining I don't have the data to judge from.
It's the same thing I've been wondering about the Epic store, which I haven't heard as much about lately. Everyone was talking how Valve needed to do various things to meet this threat, and they mostly didn't, and it's still unclear whether they had any need to.
You got a point. Would be fun to see the sales figures of say Stadia or GeForceNow.
Obviously nobody is going to drop a 10 years old Steam library for Stadia or Luna. I won't for sure. But, it might be interesting for new gamers that will compare the price of a console or a PC to the price of Stadia or Luna. These streaming services are going to gain traction over time. I'm just afraid that if Steam doesn't jump on the train, it might cost them in the long term. This is something that they have to get ready for, soon enough. Remember Microsoft's stance regarding the first iPhones?
Last edited by Mohandevir on 24 September 2020 at 10:26 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
If this comes with twitch prime, I might want to try this bigtime :)
0 Likes
Even their Lumberyard is lagging with Linux support.Not lagging, they drop support for it long time. While cryengine (original, not fork) still supports it...
Even worse then. So Amazon clearly doesn't care.
2 Likes, Who?
How long until Valve throw their Steam Controller onto the sofa and announce their own? If they don't, they might end up as one of the only major gaming stores not to at this rate. The cloud game streaming wars have truly begun now. How do you feel about it?
Valve is much smaller than Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Valve is basically a family business. Okay a pretty big one but just small compared to a company like Amazon. Amazon has almost unlimited computing power. Valve can't build something like that even if they wanted to.
But I think that Valve is on the right track with SteamOS. Maybe some day SteamOS will run in Amazon data centers and you can stream your Steam library over it. For Amazon this would be just a business.
I would also like to know what kind of infrastructure Amazon has behind it. Do they use Linux and Vulkan like Google? Or do they actually run a Windows cluster for the games? Or both?
1 Likes, Who?
Kinda worried about the future honestly... so much fragmentation, everybody wants its own thing.
Yeah they never really ask what the players want do they?
1 Likes, Who?
See more from me