Recently, at the time of writing this article, the news is still quite fresh as Amazon Luna looks to pivot away from its original “channels” method to a model more akin to Nvidia GeForce Now where Amazon Luna subscribers can play the games they own on either Ubisoft Connect or, sometime this year, GOG.com. The addition of the second store has left me with one big question, which I want to address, so enjoy the read.
So What Is GOG.com and Why Is This Relevant?
The first thing I want to address about this partnership before I tell you what the big question buzzing around my brain is what is GOG.com? Well GOG is a digital PC gaming store very much akin to the likes of Steam, which like Steam is owned by a bigger gaming company and publisher, but we will get to that. GOG is notable as they market themselves as being a “DRM-free” video game store, and we all have been burnt by a game that was ruined by DRM.
Personally, though, I see GOG being a good but somewhat questionable choice when it comes to Amazon Luna allowing subscribers to stream their PC libraries (If I were Amazon I would have probably tried to get Epic Games onboard first before GOG but oh well). Now let’s ask the question that you’re here to learn about.
How Many Publishers Are Going To Allow This?
Right here is the question and in my opinion, it will probably be more publishers than you were thinking for a few reasons, the main one is the cost of porting these games to Luna from GOG is very minimal as Luna is built on Windows (unlike Google Stadia which was built on Linux) and GOG runs games on Windows therefore it should be very simple like Nvidia GeForce Now where developers have to just opt into the service. I do want to compare however just because it may take less work doesn’t mean all publishers will play ball with Amazon Luna, just because I own Turok on GOG doesn’t mean the developers/publishers in Night Dive Studio will allow me to play it on Luna using GOG.
Something great about this partnership however is how the ghost of Google Stadia means GOG and Amazon Luna will allow gamers to buy games from both platforms and receive a copy between the two storefronts. If I buy The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt on Amazon Luna I get a copy on GOG and vice versa which I think is awesome especially as gamers are more concerned than ever as gaming platforms move more and more into digital and cloud-based platforms over the past few years, I do want to address though there is one game publisher who has already confirmed a couple of their GOG games which will be on Amazon Luna.
The Publisher Who Has Already Confirmed Games On Luna Via GOG
Okay this one is a bit of a cheat, but it shows how important this partnership is, CD Projekt Red the game publishing arm of the same parent company of GOG.com has already confirmed The Witcher franchise and Cyberpunk 2077 which are some extremely popular video games. It is also notable that this is GOG’s first partnership with a cloud gaming platform which is exciting to see.
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Plain has also confirmed that they will be opting in. Apparently Amazon will be handling the porting, according to the GOG page for developers.
Plaion.