I think you will all agree that the gaming community is probably the most vocal and outspoken group of any community around. For better or for worse, it is also a community divided by tribalism and rivalry – whether it is our PC overlords basking in mods and 240FPS, the decades long war between “Xbots” and “Ponies,” or a clash between loyalists with their hardware or futurists with their belief in digital distribution and cloud gaming. Discussions within the community are usually loud, volatile and ever present.
The Exception To The Rule
Yet, among the chaos, the clang of sword on shield, and the chants of pride exclaiming “we have more exclusives!” … there sits a small subset of players with their nose to the controller trying to avoid any trouble or confrontation. Amazon Luna users.
Amazon Luna has been around for nearly 3 and half years at this point. In fairness, the majority of that time it was in beta and exclusive to US residents only. But even since branching out overseas and reaching other parts of the world, Luna has failed to produce a tribe of its own. It isn’t a timing thing, and it certainly isn’t a “cloud gaming” thing either. There are cloud gaming platforms that have been around for less time that have managed to make a bigger splash. So what is it?
Which comes first?
Like a snake eating its own tail, it is hard to find the start or the end, the cause or the solution.
Some months go by where Luna will lose more titles than it adds that month. Which, granted, will also happen occasionally on other subscription gaming services such as Xbox Game Pass. But, relatively speaking, libraries grow over time if they don’t stay around the same number. This isn’t the case for Luna.
The paid subscription tier, Luna+, lost games month after month from April 2023 to November of the same year. To pay a subscription cost and have less games available each month is a difficult cross to bear. And when this happened, the outcry of dissatisfaction couldn’t have been quieter. Where are the fans who feel let down or disappointed?
There is often good news that comes from camp Luna, such as groundbreaking new features and availability in new territories. But just like with the lack of negative backlash, these features often touch down without a cheer, praise, or pat on the back.
This is from a gaming platform that has zero barriers to entry. You can play with any bluetooth controller or take it to the big screen using a Fire TV device. So, what gives? Where are the Luna fanatics? The sane Lunatics? Where are the people who won’t stand for the lack of big games released on the platform? Where are the people who head to Luna as a first choice for their entertainment?
What next?
It would appear that at this moment in time, Luna is at a standstill. There are clearly a number of Amazon Prime Subscribers using it as a simple way to play Fortnite for free, but, to most of them, it seems “Luna” itself is an afterthought.
With the bank of Amazon behind them, Luna could push harder and break more ground. Luna could give people more exciting games to play, go full force with prime time marketing, giveaway controllers to loyal amazon prime members with an interest in gaming (we all know that they have this data). Yet they don’t. Maybe this is because of the lack of passion from the gamers surrounding Luna. But, it’s like the age old riddle: What comes first? The chicken or the egg? Does Amazon need to double down on Luna to create a community worth celebrating? Or does a community need to form before Amazon gives Luna the emphasis it needs and (dare I say it) deserves?
Well, the problem is that Amazon had something good going with Luna before they started losing games. Some are coming back, but then some of the best ones (like Yakuza Like A Dragon) still haven’t returned. And they started making all these changes not too long AFTER I picked up a Luna controller and started playing games on it. There are some good games on it still, but there were more before. Also, awareness! Nobody knows they can play games on Amazon devices they already have. Amazon needs to push it more. Also, sell the Luna controller at RETAIL simply to raise awareness!