When discussing the best streaming services for games, it was only a matter of time before corporate giant Amazon entered the picture. Thankfully, Amazon puts money where the mouth is, as Amazon Luna provides more than enough horsepower for streaming top-tier games on your favorite Android gaming phone.

But, of course, with cloud gaming on the rise, Amazon Luna has to go up against frontrunners like Microsoft's xCloud and Nvidia's GeForce Now. So, with Amazon Luna officially expanding on device support and reaching global gamers, we've assembled a guide that covers precisely why Amazon's premium streaming platform deserves your screen time.

1 Luna plays nice with Amazon ecosystem

With Fire OS, you'll have no trouble accessing Luna on any Amazon-powered devices, such as Fire TVs, Fire sticks, and Fire tablets. Of course, Amazon Luna isn't exclusive to the Amazon ecosystem since you can use Luna on any Windows PC, Mac, Android, iPhone, or Chromebook — great for those who don't necessarily want to stick to one hardware ecosystem.

Luna controller bundles with fire tv sticks and fire tablets
Source: Amazon

2 Amazon Luna offers flexible subscription plans

Amazon Luna offers subscription plans split across channels encapsulating specific gaming genres or brands, resulting in a mixed gaming library you can subscribe to piecemeal, depending on your interests. Four different channels are currently available:

  • Luna+ at $10 per month
  • Prime Gaming is free
  • Ubisoft+ at $18 per month
  • Jackbox games at $5 per month

Ubisoft will cater to those looking for a premium gaming experience with AAA titles. In contrast, those looking for affordable packages for family entertainment would enjoy the Jackbox games channel at only $5 every month. Households can now play party games without buying an expensive console.

For those with a Ubisoft account and who own a few titles already, linking your account allows you to stream a select number of games and carry over supported save data.

3 Luna offers stable performance

Evaluating Luna's performance is the essential item on this list. The quality needs to be top-notch when streaming; otherwise, competitors could be a better option. The good news is that Luna has been praised for offering stable performance across multiple devices, topping out at 1080p at 60 FPS. And if more performance is what you're after, you can also drop your resolution to 720p to drop demand on the stream.

Amazon recommends at least a 10 Mbps connection on a 5 GHz Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz is still supported) for the best performance. Mileage can vary since a large part of cloud gaming depends on your internet connection and the route to the game's server, but at least Luna offers some ways around these issues.

amazon luna controller in front of three screens with purple background
Source: Amazon

4 Luna's controller brings quality for gaming

Amazon Luna offers a standalone controller, similar to Stadia. A huge perk to using the Luna controller is how it connects to a separate Wi-Fi source to help reduce latency; to any gamer, the less input lag and more responsiveness you have, the better your overall gaming sessions feel. The controller's design offers a similar layout to an Xbox controller, offering sturdy rear-textured grips with familiar button mapping, which is always a plus. If you decide the Luna controller isn't for you, you can always turn any smartphone into a controller or plug in any compatible third-party controller.

amazon luna controller frontal view of buttons and lit logo
Source: Amazon

5 Luna supports Windows and Mac

Luna impressively integrates well on several devices, including systems that support Windows and Mac. The added device and software compatibility means more ways to access the cloud service. You can even load up Luna on a Chrome browser and Safari, and it'll perform consistently (notably on a Chrome browser) enough compared to the native app, which means Linux access isn't out of reach. Plus, access to Microsoft and Apple-powered devices may lead to a vastly expanded gaming library in the future.

Amazon Luna running on Windows and Apple
Source: Amazon

6 It's incredibly easy to stream on Twitch

Amazon's Luna offers a powerful integration tool while using Twitch, broadcasting your Luna gameplay with very little setup time required. The seamless transition between gaming and watching your favorite Twitch streamers may provide another way to enjoy social gaming. Additionally, a close connection to Twitch could be an inexpensive opportunity to explore streaming as a hobby.

Twitch streamers often create social groups over Discord. Amazon Luna has a way of integrating Discord with your activity. Connected Discord accounts will show your Luna activity as an interactive status over Discord.

Amazon Luna twitch broadcast advertisement
Source: Amazon

7 Free games for Amazon Prime subscribers

Who doesn't like taking advantage of the full benefits of a paid membership? Amazon Prime subscribers can enjoy a new roundup of Luna games every month. Loading up on these free (with Prime) games can provide more than enough material to help test the waters on how well your device and connection handle Amazon Luna. This way, you try out the service and review the performance before committing to the platform.

prime gaming amazon luna landing page with play free with prime button
Source: Amazon

8 Amazon Luna has a well-designed UI

You'll spend a reasonable amount of time within the user interface (UI), so you're banking on the design to be clean, clear, and not an eyesore. Scrolling through your game list is similar to browsing a collection of movies and television shows through Amazon Prime Video, where the icons and titles are organized into separate rows. Games in your library will display a Metacritic score underneath the title when you click on it, which is a nice touch. You can access all features through a column of tabs, including the couch-play option to bring friends (who don't have to be subscribers) into remote play co-op sessions.

Amazon luna home overview of games and catalog display on web browser

9 Amazon Luna provides a family-friendly experience

Amazon Luna provides options to tweak your gaming experience. By visiting the settings menu, you can add a new Bluetooth or USB-supported controller, manage your subscriptions, access saved game data, and more.

available settings in amazon luna on a web browser
Source: Amazon

Parents can set up customizable (parental) controls for underage children streaming games on Luna. You can set up your account with a 5-digit PIN and turn on options to hide mature content and Twitch streaming. Your parental controls password will block anyone who tries to access restricted content. As Amazon Luna aims to bring families together, having some control over your younger family member's activities is imperative.

Amazon Luna paves the path for cloud gaming

Thanks to Google Stadia's sad passing, Amazon Luna may finally regain some attention as an excellent alternative to Google's defunct cloud gaming service. And with the barrier of entry for cloud gaming being quite low, there's a good chance that manufacturing and software companies will keep investing a sizable amount. There's nowhere to go but up with game streaming, and Luna is easily at the forefront with a quality service that's incredibly accessible and affordable.

Amazon Luna Controller product white
Amazon Luna

Amazon Luna is a game streaming platform from the e-commerce company, and it offers several tiers of subscriptions, with a free tier for those already subscribed to Amazon Prime. This lets users pick and choose which tiers they wish to game on, and new games are added all the time, including new AAA releases.