{"id":904136,"date":"2026-05-07T05:24:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T10:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/amazon-is-downscaling-cloud-video-game-service-luna\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T05:24:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T10:24:44","slug":"amazon-is-downscaling-cloud-video-game-service-luna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/amazon-is-downscaling-cloud-video-game-service-luna\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon is downscaling cloud video game service Luna"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-module=\"content\" data-testid=\"article-base-body-content\">\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">Amazon is downscaling its video game service Luna. Some changes are effective immediately, and others are coming in the next few months.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">For starters, individual game purchases are no longer available on Amazon Luna. Any titles purchased directly from the platform will cease to work on June 10 of this year, effectively leaving the platform altogether. Users aren&#8217;t eligible for refunds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">In addition, Amazon is also removing access to external game stores and third-party subscriptions. This includes the EA, GOG, and Ubisoft stores. Subscriptions such as Jackbox Games and Ubisoft+ are also being discontinued.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">Luna users will be eligible for a complimentary Luna Premium subscription as a &#8220;thank you&#8221; gesture for supporting the service, which <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/game-platforms\/luna-amazon-s-take-on-cloud-based-gaming-launches-in-limited-early-access\" target=\"_self\" data-discover=\"true\">soft-launched back in 2020<\/a><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">As reported by Bloomberg in January, with the departure of Amazon Game Studios boss Cristoph Hartmann, the company is retreating from the PC and console video game space in <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/business\/report-amazon-game-studios-boss-is-leaving-the-company\" target=\"_self\" data-discover=\"true\">favor of Luna<\/a><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-component=\"related-article\"><span data-testid=\"related-article-title\">Related:<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/business\/griffin-gaming-partners-launches-100m-fund-to-support-indie-developers\" target=\"_self\" data-discover=\"true\">Griffin Gaming Partners launches $100M fund to support indie developers<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">The news was shared after Amazon announced <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><a rel=\"noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aboutamazon.com\/news\/company-news\/amazon-layoffs-corporate-jan-2026\">its latest round of job cuts<\/a><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"> in a message to employees, later posted on the Amazon website, which reportedly impacted around 16,000 roles across the company. This was after Amazon made approximately 14,000 people redundant within its corporate workforce, a decision that included staff in the video game division.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">Since then, Amazon announced it would be <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/business\/amazon-shutting-down-ugc-dungeon-brawler-king-of-meat-after-six-months\" target=\"_self\" data-discover=\"true\">shutting down<\/a><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"> its UGC dungeon brawler <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><span>King of Meat<\/span><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"> after six months, and it also <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/business\/amazon-ditches-open-world-driving-title-from-maverick-games\" target=\"_self\" data-discover=\"true\">ditched<\/a><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"> an upcoming open-world driving game from UK studio Maverick Games.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">&#8220;As part of our strategic evolution to focus on projects that leverage Amazon&#8217;s unique strengths and scale, including the recent re-launch of Luna and our Tomb Raider franchise partnership with Crystal Dynamics, we have decided to release Maverick Games from their publishing agreement with Amazon Game Studios,&#8221; read the statement at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">Meanwhile, Crystal Dynamics, which is owned by Embracer, <\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/business\/embracer-studio-crystal-dynamics-continues-steady-stream-of-layoffs\" target=\"_self\" data-discover=\"true\">laid off 20 employees last month<\/a><\/span><span data-testid=\"content-text\">, following four confirmed layoff rounds since 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h2>About the Author<\/h2>\n<div data-component=\"contributor-summary\">\n<p><a data-testid=\"contributor-summary-img-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/author\/diego-arguello\" target=\"_self\" data-discover=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-component=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/eu-images.contentstack.com\/v3\/assets\/blt740a130ae3c5d529\/blt347a0e7bce060c71\/682356963510b060418447c4\/pic.jpg?width=400&#038;auto=webp&#038;quality=80&#038;disable=upscale\"   loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Diego Arg\u00fcello\" title=\"Diego Arg\u00fcello\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"contributor-summary-subtitle\">Contributing Editor, News, GameDeveloper.com<\/p>\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"content-paragraph\"><span data-testid=\"content-text\">Diego Nicol\u00e1s Arg\u00fcello is a freelance journalist and critic from Argentina. Video games helped him to learn English, so now he covers them for places like The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, and more. He also runs Into the Spine, a site dedicated to fostering and supporting new writers, and co-hosted Turnabout Breakdown, a podcast about the Ace Attorney series. He\u2019s most likely playing a rhythm game as you read this.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Diego Arg\u00fcello<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/business\/amazon-is-downscaling-video-game-service-luna\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amazon is downscaling its video game service Luna. Some changes are effective immediately, and others are coming in the next few months. For starters, individual game purchases are no longer available on Amazon Luna. Any titles purchased directly from the platform will cease to work on June 10 of this year, effectively leaving the platform<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":904137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,149346],"tags":[5048,149345],"class_list":["post-904136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-amazon","category-downscaling","tag-amazon","tag-downscaling"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}