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Amazon Luna Could Seriously Undercut Google Stadia
While it's been rumored for quite a while, Amazon's game streaming offering has finally been unveiled as Amazon Luna. Jumping into direct competition with Google Stadia, Project xCloud/Game Pass Ultimate, GeForce Now, and other game streaming services, Amazon's Luna takes on a cable-style subscription option for game streaming. Amazon's been making efforts to jump into the gaming sphere for a short while, to various degrees of success, but never as ambitious as creating an entire game streaming platform.
Compared to the other streaming services, it's a very different take compared to direct purchases on Stadia or rotating library like Game Pass. However, it's very possible Amazon Luna's subscription offering could seriously undercut Stadia Pro's lineup of games. Not only is Luna's subscription cheaper (at the moment) but already seems to be offering similarly high profile games out of the gate, and can only expand from there. There are some caveats though, so only time will tell for sure, but for now Luna is comparatively looking very promising.
The Difference In Lineup Between Stadia Pro And Luna+
Now the main difference between Amazon Luna and Google Stadia is the pricing. Amazon Luna's early access "introductory" price is $5.99/month to start, not including any additional "channel" packages like Ubisoft's collection. Stadia sells games at full price, but also has a Stadia Pro membership at $9.99/month that provides a selection of Stadia's library free to own for subscribers. More than likely Amazon Luna's price will increase to $9.99/month upon full release, but it's not the price difference that specifically undercuts Stadia.
The key difference here is the library of games available to subscribers to both services. At the moment, Stadia Pro subscribers have had access to 40 games since the end of last year, some of which are no longer free games under Stadia Pro. Amazon Luna's early access list alone is already boasting 72 titles, all of which will be playable under the starting package called "Luna+" for $5.99 a month. Now granted this is an "introductory" price for Luna's beta period, so the price will presumably increase as mentioned, but that's still almost doubling the Stadia Pro lineup.
This is without even mentioning any additional "channels" that will be coming to Amazon Luna in the future, allowing players to cater their subscriptions to their favorite collections of games from publishers like Ubisoft. Stadia Pro gets anywhere between four to six new games each month, some of which are already available on Stadia's full store, but they are free to own on Stadia Pro. Regardless of whether players miss deadlines or not, Amazon Luna's pricing could still beat out Stadia in due time if the library continues to expand as promised. In the end, even if Luna+ increases price to $9.99/month like Stadia Pro, players are still getting several more games for their money.
A Comparatively Promising Service
It's also worth mentioning that the reason why Stadia games are typically full price is because of Stadia's development process. Stadia's servers are designed on a Linux platform, meaning games have to be translated and optimized for a new operating system to play on Google Stadia. Amazon's web servers are based on Windows platforms, and while there's no concrete evidence to support this, developing for Luna may be more streamlined compared to Stadia. The early access list of games available in Luna's introductory period alone could be a reflection of that.
There's a few caveats here, especially if Amazon's library doesn't expand up to what Stadia's library currently offering. While the remaining 80+ games on Stadia are full price, if many of these games don't end up on Amazon Luna (or any of the additional channels), then the service won't be comparable. That being said, there's no indication of that being the case with Amazon Luna, which already boasts games like Control, Metro: Exodus, Resident Evil 7, and several more. With an expanded library, who's theoretical full price would be comparable to Stadia Pro's $9.99, Amazon Luna could seriously undermine Google Stadia's offering and value.
