Amazon Luna early access is here, but only for the lucky few who got invites

Amazon has begun emailing invitations for early access of its Amazon Luna game streaming service, but only for a select few of the reported hundreds of thousands of US-based gamers who applied.

In a blog post, Amazon said that it would start with 'a small set of first customers on the service and we’ll continue to invite more players to join us over the coming months.' If you don't get an invite soon, you may be stuck on the wait list for some time.

Invited early access gamers will have access initially to the Luna Plus Game Channel and its 50-game library for $6 per month, with more games to be added later. This is Amazon's main channel of licensed games, but soon, players will be able to add publisher-specific channels (with their own subscription fees) for more games.

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The Ubisoft Channel will also be added to early access, but Amazon does not indicate when it will be available or how much it'll cost. It does say that the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be available on that channel, however.

That $6/month Luna Plus rate is only good through the end of early access — and again, we don't know when early access will end or how much the final subscription cost will be. Early access gamers will be notified 30 days before the rate will rise, and you can cancel at any time month-to-month.

If you're one of the lucky Luna invitees, you can play its catalog of games using any Bluetooth controller, or purchase the Luna controller for $49. Or, if you want to try your luck and get a Luna invite, apply here if you haven't already.

How Luna streaming stacks up

Luna's closest game streaming equivalent today is Xbox Game Pass: for a flat monthly fee, you can download any game available in the channel library. 

This contrasts with Google Stadia — which charges a monthly fee for a select library of games, or you can buy games outright to stream on the service — and Nvidia GeForce Now, which lets you stream certain games from your Steam library.

Unlike Game Pass, however, Luna doesn't allow you to buy games at all, whereas you can purchase expiring Game Pass titles at a decent discount to keep them in your library. Game Pass Ultimate also has more games available (~200 vs 50), but also costs more per month ($15/month vs $6/month).

That monthly cost will increase once early access ends, and you'll have to pay extra if you decide to subscribe to the Ubisoft Channel or other gaming channels when they become available.

Amazon doesn't specify which games make up Luna Plus' initial 50-title early access catalog, but expect to find acclaimed titles like Control, Resident Evil 7, CrossCode, Overcooked 2, Sonic Mania Plus, Metro Exodus and many others. Eventually, Luna is supposed to have at least 100 games when it fully launches, but many will require an Ubisoft subscription.

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