Amazon revamps its cloud gaming service Luna and focuses on party games

Amazon is giving its cloud gaming service Luna a new design and more games. In addition to the latest top titles, there will be more party games in the future that Prime members can play on the sofa with friends and family as part of a "GameNight." Participants in the game running on the TV can use their smartphones for this; separate controllers are not required. Amazon promises to make GameNight available to all Prime subscribers this year at no additional cost.

Luna was launched in North America in 2022, and the cloud gaming service has been available in Germany since March 2023. Games can be streamed to a range of devices – including Fire TVs, iPhones and iPads, Windows PCs and Macs, as well as Android smartphones and tablets. Prime members get access to a monthly changing selection of games at no additional cost. They can also link their Ubisoft Connect account to Luna and play selected Ubisoft PC games they already own directly on their Fire TV or other supported device.

More players than gaming hardware

After around two and a half years, Luna is now getting a new look and will have a slightly different focus. According to Amazon, there are more than 3 billion people worldwide who play games, but only around 300 million own a gaming console and only around 250 million own a gaming PC. Most people therefore play on their smartphones and are less interested in complex titles that they have to familiarize themselves with and for which they would have to invest more in hardware.

Amazon will therefore expand its range of party games on Luna, which should attract more players and possibly new Prime subscribers. In addition to games such as “Angry Birds” and adaptations of board games such as “Taboo,” Amazon is having its exclusive titles developed. To mark the start of GameNight, Amazon announced “Courtroom Chaos: Starring Snoop Dogg.” According to Amazon, this is “a human-developed, AI-powered courtroom improvisation game in which players invent crazy characters, tell wild stories, and do everything they can to defend their testimony in front of Judge Snoop Dogg.”

Top titles and party games with AI

In addition, Luna will continue to offer the latest top titles, which should also attract PC gamers. Amazon refers to “EA SPORTS FC 25,” “Assassin's Creed Shadows,” “Fortnite,” and “Death Stranding,” for example. Prime subscribers will be able to use the games at no extra cost, and Amazon promises to add more titles to GameNight in the future. It is unclear when the revamped Luna with GameNight will be available, but it is expected to be within the next few weeks. After all, there are less than three months until the end of this year.

In addition to the new GameNight, it is also unclear how extensive the redesign of Luna will be. However, the integration of famous personalities such as Snoop Dogg is only the beginning. “Thanks to advances in AI and cloud technology, there are new opportunities to develop completely different types of games – experiences that have never existed before,” promises Amazon.

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