Today, Amazon opened its Luna cloud gaming service to everyone in mainland US, as well as introducing some new features and offering Prime subscribers access to free games.
For this wider launch, Amazon is expanding the included content with two new features and three new channels. The new features include Live Broadcasting to Twitch, which adds a broadcast button for easy streaming live on Twitch. The other new feature is called Luna Phone Controller, and it turns your Android or iOS device into a game controller. It’s available as part of the free Luna Controller app.
The three new channels joining the service are called the Prime Gaming Channel, Retro Channel, and Jackbox Games Channel. The Prime channel offers Prime members a rotating selection of free games to play, which currently includes Devil May Cry 5; Observer: System Redux; PHOGS!; Flashback; and later this month, Immortals Fenyx Rising.
The Retro Channel offers classic games from publishers such as Capcom and SNK for $4.99 per month. Games including Another World, Street Fighter II – Hyper Fighting, Metal Slug 3, Contra Anniversary Collection, and Castlevania Anniversary Collection all feature. Then there’s the Jackbox channel, which is focused on party games and allows subscribers to invite others to instantly join you for multiplayer sessions. It also costs $4.99 per month.
A Luna+ subscription costs $5.99 per month right now, and allows you to stream games from a growing library of more than 100 titles to a wide range of devices including Windows PC, Macs, Chromebooks, tablets, smartphones, and of course, Amazon Fire devices. Even in its early stages, PCMag found it to be a responsive and economical way to play games as long as you have a great gamepad to hand. The full list of games is available to scroll through on the Amazon Luna blog.
Amazon is set to increase the price of Luna+ to $9.99 from April 1, but anyone signing up before then can lock in the $5.99 monthly price for as long as they keep subscribing. The Family Channel is currently $2.99, but will also increase from April to $5.99, but again, you can lock in the lower price now.
