The package and….

That was the setting I faced when watching GameRant giving us ‘Amazon Luna: How Many Games Are Included?’ (At https://gamerant.com/amazon-luna-games-how-many/), basically for $10 a month you get access to 134 games. Consider that I buy less than a dozen games a year, that is a decent deal and lets not forget that the Amazon Luna just started. I had to giggle intensely when I saw the Ubisoft+ option for $17.99. There we see three titles I can get for $10 (all three), Odyssey can be bought for about $15, Valhalla is $39, and that list goes on (like the Division 2 for $15), so as such, not that great a deal. Games priced down as they were old news and glitchy to boot. But the start (for non Ubisoft games) is there. I set out in previous articles at least half a dozen additional titles and Amazon has optional additional paths to walk with the Luna. It might seem like a small stage, but it is the beginning to surpass the Google Stadia, it also sets the stage to close the gap to whatever Microsoft has and surpass that. 

Forbes adds to that the free games you can claim (at https://www.forbes.com/sites/krisholt/2022/03/30/here-are-the-amazon-prime-gaming-free-games-for-april-2022/) and there are a few beauties there. Of course, we all remember Oblivion, but there are plenty of people who never played it. This is important. We look at the games out there and think it is ‘old’ news, but I have been in gaming since 1984, so I have pretty much seen it all. Those who are just starting do not need to get bogged down by the faltering Ubisoft philosophy. There is a whole range of games out there that are forgotten, its IP abandoned, yet it does not need to be and there is a nice side to it, they are able to bring a whole range of joy to players, mainly ingle player ones, but that does not need to be the case. There is one problem, where does Amazon want to be? It matters, because there is a setting in the subscription where we see “Retro, Family and Luna+”, there is wisdom in focussing on one element at a time. You see Nintendo is an established family brand, so there is a danger there. I am not stating that they should abandon it, I am stating that Amazon needs to play to its strengths. Luna+ with 134 games is a strength and adding a dozen of so titles in 2022 will add to strength. Yes, there is Microsoft boasting its game pass (for $15.95/month) making it 50% more expensive and as you see in many places, it is trying to fight Sony with its $119.99 annually (or $12 a month), and if that is not enough we also are given ‘Microsoft is moving ahead with an Xbox Game Pass Family Plan’, yes the king of spin is all about the message, but the rumblings are all over the place and it does not bring peace of mind. Microsoft is already moving to a new stack of attacks (Nintendo) all whilst Nintendo is feeling comfortable and perky. They have proven themselves a dozen times over, so Microsoft is not an issue for them. Sony is doing great, even as Microsoft is not releasing sales numbers, and they make claims that they are focussing on the Game pass, I wonder where they are playing that on, especially as they are ‘losing’ to Sony in a near 2.5:1 setting. Then we see that the younger players are smashing it on the Nintendo Switch At present they are at 91,000,000 Switch consoles sold. This implies that there is a chance that they are close to neck on neck with Sony and the Nintendo-Microsoft sales are (by some) estimated to be 10:1, a horrifying defeat for Microsoft. And that is the player you trust for a game pass? Lets be clear, the game pass is a really good deal, but it needs to be said that it cannot be the deciding factor for buying that console. Not when Sony and Nintendo are that far ahead of Microsoft. Yes, we saw the great news on how Microsoft is pouring billions into gaming, but the numbers do not add up, this is about data collection and a game pass and always online offer a great data collector stage. 

As such Microsoft is already clearly in a mere 3rd position, and now we see Amazon Luna slowly growing. I reckon that by December 2024 Microsoft is a mere 4th position player and that is before any deal between Amazon and Google is considered, at that point Microsoft will be a distant 5th, hoping to be counted among the gamers, but that group has had enough of the spin they were presented. 

Luna is about to become a contender and they have a setting and option to become a top three console and that opens up doors, doors for games and doors for a larger Luna station usage as long a they play to their strengths. As I see it, as long as they play an open game with their consumers they have the option to go a very long way, showing Microsoft yet again that spin is nice for internal messaging, but the gamers are catching on and Ubisoft was never part of any of these solutions.