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This looks familiar.
Given Google Stadia’s fall from grace, it’s almost a slight to call the cloud gaming service a role model for Amazon’s alternative cloud gaming solution, Luna. But it looks like Amazon has taken inspiration from Stadia regardless by introducing a “Play on Luna” button.
Streamer Vet Cloud Gaming unveiled the “Play on Luna” offering in a recent video. The function is simple enough: after linking Twitch and Amazon accounts, players can search up a game on Twitch and click the button to play any game that is available on the Luna service.
Seeing more crossover functionality between these two Amazon-owned platforms isn’t a surprise, but the feature’s quiet rollout is unexpected. The subdued release is especially interesting considering some of the benefits for streamers.
In a video detailing the new feature, The Nerf Report’s Bryant Chappel outlines the massive benefits the “Play on Luna” button could provide for Twitch, streamers, and their communities. Subscribers can instantly jump into a streamer’s game by clicking a button, Chappel noted.
Streamers could even earn another source of revenue through this model, the YouTuber suggested, should viewers sign up for Luna by subscribing through monetized links. It’s a great way to integrate Luna into the Twitch ecosystem and other Amazon services, although it’s not a new idea—because Google announced it years ago.
Google outlined plans to create a shared experience across platforms when Stadia was announced at the Game Developers Conference in 2019. The feature operated nearly identically to the “Play on Luna” button but was intended to work across a wider range of platforms. Google Stadia’s “Play Now” button was demoed as being able to take the player from a trailer on YouTube directly into a game through the browser in about five seconds.
“Stadia offers instant access to play,” said Google Vice President Phil Harrison during the Stadia reveal. “Our platform vision for Stadia is to reduce the friction between getting excited about a game and playing a game.”
While the idea presented an exciting new future for gaming, Stadia lasted barely a year before Google shifted focus and shut down both of its internal development studios. That’s left the door wide open for Amazon to pick up some of Google’s good ideas, like “Play on Luna”.
“Watch popular Twitch streams directly from Luna and go from watching Twitch to instantly playing on Luna,” reads the official Luna page.
Amazon’s Luna requires a paid subscription and offers several different tiers. Subscription plans range from a $2.99 family plan and a reasonable $5.99 Luna+ plan to a Ubisoft+ plan for $17.99. It’s somewhat comical that Ubisoft has its own package with Luna when Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was used heavily to promote the Stadia at reveal and launch.
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