Living with Game Streaming: Amazon Luna (Premium)

Amazon Luna, currently in early access, is an inexpensive choice for more casual gamers. The best news? Controller connectivity is excellent.

You may recall that I had some latency/lag issues with Google’s Stadia, though the right combination of hardware—like a Chromecast Ultra with a wireless Stadia controller or, even better, a Chromebook with a Stadia controller—solved that problem. With this experience behind me, I went nervously into my Luna testing after Amazon (re)invited me into the early access program the other day. And in addition to the $5.99 per month Luna subscription, I also ordered a $50 Amazon Luna Controller to be sure I was getting the best possible experience.

So.

Despite the inherent similarities—Luna and Stadia are, after all, both cloud-based game streaming services—there are some major differences between the two. Some come down to basic strategy differences. And some are perhaps more tied to time in market; Stadia, after all, has a year-long head start over Luna.

The first I mentioned upfront: Luna is aimed at far more casual gamers than Stadia, which is set up now as a cloud-based alternative to traditional videogame consoles. It has a smaller and new AAA-free game library, and the titles that it has that are of most interest to me are the AAA games of yesteryear, like A Plague Tale: Innocence and Metro Exodus, which is a classic first-person shooter. But if you are also paying for a Ubisoft+ subscription at another $14.99 per month, you can access those games, both new (Assassin’s Creed Valhalla) and old (Far Cry 4) alike.

Luna’s library is also small compared to Stadia—there are roughly 65 games right now—but it’s still in early access and Stadia has been around for over a year. That said, I suspect there are some real gems in there, similar to the game GYLT on Stadia, that will appeal to casual gamers. Even A Plague Tale: Innocence, which was a major release just over a year ago, is basically a casual game, and a nice introduction to the world of story-driven games.

Luna’s library may be small, but its device compatibility is already among the best in the market: Amazon has native clients for Windows, Mac, and Fire TV, but it also supports browser-based play on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android. I’ve used the native and web clients on Windows, the latter of which claims to require Chrome but works just fine in Edge.

Speaking of Luna’s library, Luna is an all-you-can-eat service, like Microsoft Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with Cloud Gaming (Beta). That is, if there’s a game in Luna’s library and you’re a subscriber, you can play it. By comparison, Stadia requires you to purchase most games outright, and the prices aren’t any different, typically, from the prices on consoles or PC. I prefer the Amazon/Microsoft approach, frankly. And at just $5.99 per month, for now, it’s hard to argue with the value, even with the smallish library.

Overall, performance is mixed. Games seem to start up very quickly, more quickly than with Stadia, but I got some audio and video drop-outs from time-to-time, with Luna warning me that my network connection wasn’t great.

The controller performance has been excellent. I’ve tried the service with an Xbox Wireless Controller wired to my NUC and the $50 Luna Controller used wirelessly with a laptop, and neither suffered from any of the lag/latency issues that I initially found troubling on Stadia, and the process for connecting the Luna Controller was much simpler than with Google’s offering. More specifically, I was able to navigate the action sequences in both A Plague Tale: Innocence and Metro Exodus without any issues, and that was pleasantly surprising. I wish I could play DOOM Eternal on Luna for a true one-to-one comparison, but from what I can tell, controllers work very well with Luna, especially the cloud-connected Luan Controller. This is impressive.

Another thing worth noting is the Luna Controller is very similar to the Xbox Wireless Controller, with the same button layout and the same somewhat bulbous design that I find very comfortable. This makes switching easier for the Xbox fan, where the Stadia controller has a button layout like the PlayStation DualShock, and a smaller and skinnier body like the DualShock 4.

If Luna had a better and bigger library, I would be all over this service. For now, I’ll keep playing through A Plague Tale: Innocence and Metro Exodus and see if I can uncover anything now. But this is a service to keep your eye on, especially if you’re already an Amazon Prime customer, who I assume will get preferential pricing when Luna leaves early access.