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Luna – Cloud gaming service

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Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#11
post #2

This was always Amazon's play with Twitch. Amazon will be able to make a much more compelling attempt at the market than Google with Stadia. I still worry about these streaming platforms. Ease of use goes up, but it turns the industry into a subscription economy. Maybe attention fulfillment maps better to subscription than to purchase, as there's less buyer's remorse? I still don't like it.

Let's say you have a game, say you are Ubisoft. You distribute with Amazon Luna, I assume you get some sort of money, something like for every hour played on X game you get $0.0000005 or something silly like that. Basically you get a rough amount of money from people playing your game every month. I fail to see how that is any different then a Steam or GameStop based distribution. Which is... You find a publisher, th…

The difference is that players don't need to invest anything to play your game, just like I don't need to buy or rent a specific DVD to watch a movie anymore.

They don't need to pay additional money, they don't need to install it. One advantage is that there's no barrier to trying out your game. The other is that your game now runs on anything.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#12
post #2

This was always Amazon's play with Twitch. Amazon will be able to make a much more compelling attempt at the market than Google with Stadia. I still worry about these streaming platforms. Ease of use goes up, but it turns the industry into a subscription economy. Maybe attention fulfillment maps better to subscription than to purchase, as there's less buyer's remorse? I still don't like it.

Let's say you have a game, say you are Ubisoft. You distribute with Amazon Luna, I assume you get some sort of money, something like for every hour played on X game you get $0.0000005 or something silly like that. Basically you get a rough amount of money from people playing your game every month. I fail to see how that is any different then a Steam or GameStop based distribution. Which is... You find a publisher, th…

> You distribute with Amazon Luna, I assume you get some sort of money, something like for every hour played on X game you get $0.0000005 or

Even better than that, you could get $0.0000005 for every hour spent playing or watching on twitch. Or maybe separate numbers for twitch vs plays, but in theory does Amazon care if a million people play alone and don't broadcast, or if one person plays and a million people watch?

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#13
post #2

This was always Amazon's play with Twitch. Amazon will be able to make a much more compelling attempt at the market than Google with Stadia. I still worry about these streaming platforms. Ease of use goes up, but it turns the industry into a subscription economy. Maybe attention fulfillment maps better to subscription than to purchase, as there's less buyer's remorse? I still don't like it.

That's kind of where my headspace is as well. I tend to view subscription services as a way to look for stuff I like and when I've found stuff I like, I want to add it to my own library. Luna may be technically superior, but I will avoid it as long as I possibly can.

I'm the opposite I think. With the exception of video and board games, I don't own much of the media I consume. I read probably over a dozen books from the library for every one I buy and I think I've probably bought maybe 5 DVDs in the past decade. I listen to the radio a lot, but rarely buy an album.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's say you have a game, say you are Ubisoft. You distribute with Amazon Luna, I assume you get some sort of money, something like for every hour played on X game you get $0.0000005 or something silly like that. Basically you get a rough amount of money from people playing your game every month. I fail to see how that is any different then a Steam or GameStop based distribution. Which is... You find a publisher, th…

The difference is that players don't need to invest anything to play your game, just like I don't need to buy or rent a specific DVD to watch a movie anymore. They don't need to pay additional money, they don't need to install it. One advantage is that there's no barrier to trying out your game. The other is that your game now runs on anything.

It's different for the end-user, yes. But from a developer/game business point of view it's the exact same. Maybe less earnings, but there isn't any details on that to confirm so it's just speculation.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#15

This feels like an appropriate place to rant on something that’s been bothering me for a while. It’s really disappointing to me to see every single form of entertainment becoming a subscription service. It’s also the same problem you see with various apps/software trying the SaaS model, even when it doesn’t make sense. Are we going to have exclusive games requiring multiple subscriptions to enjoy the content you want…

Well if you play borderlands 3 or another AAA title inside stadia and purchase you are already paying for game + gaming service + DLC...

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#16

This feels like an appropriate place to rant on something that’s been bothering me for a while. It’s really disappointing to me to see every single form of entertainment becoming a subscription service. It’s also the same problem you see with various apps/software trying the SaaS model, even when it doesn’t make sense. Are we going to have exclusive games requiring multiple subscriptions to enjoy the content you want…

I wouldn’t mind if subscription was something like 10 cents per hour played, not 30 bucks a month plus one off $50 fee.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that players don't need to invest anything to play your game, just like I don't need to buy or rent a specific DVD to watch a movie anymore. They don't need to pay additional money, they don't need to install it. One advantage is that there's no barrier to trying out your game. The other is that your game now runs on anything.

It's different for the end-user, yes. But from a developer/game business point of view it's the exact same. Maybe less earnings, but there isn't any details on that to confirm so it's just speculation.

Well, those UX considerations in my post are also business considerations.

Just look at all the games people never even get to entertain the idea of playing because they only own a tablet, macbook, underpowered computer, wrong/no console, etc. Getting your game into their hands through a service like this surely impacts your business.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#18

I noticed that there are web apps for iOS to get around Apple’s rules. Why couldn’t MS and Google do this.

Probably because they rightfully feel that they shouldn’t have to resort to that and they would rather just fight Apple.

As a consumer, I hope they win. It’s my pocket computer, I paid for it and I own it, so I should be able to do whatever the fuck I want with it.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#19
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's kind of where my headspace is as well. I tend to view subscription services as a way to look for stuff I like and when I've found stuff I like, I want to add it to my own library. Luna may be technically superior, but I will avoid it as long as I possibly can.

I'm the opposite I think. With the exception of video and board games, I don't own much of the media I consume. I read probably over a dozen books from the library for every one I buy and I think I've probably bought maybe 5 DVDs in the past decade. I listen to the radio a lot, but rarely buy an album.

I think this is where the disconnect lies for me.

I don't buy much, but when I do, I purchase things and use them often. I don't rent much at all. Moviegoing and attending concerts are my biggest "rental" purchases.

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