{"id":1643999,"date":"2026-07-24T18:48:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T18:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/juiXFaRscByDnbYqrabXEd"},"modified":"2026-07-24T18:48:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T18:48:01","slug":"amazon-gaming-boss-says-high-hardware-prices-could-be-good-news-for-its-luna-cloud-gaming-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/amazon-gaming-boss-says-high-hardware-prices-could-be-good-news-for-its-luna-cloud-gaming-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon Gaming boss says high hardware prices could be good news for its Luna cloud gaming program"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The RAMpocalypse<\/a>, and more specifically the obscene price inflation it’s driven, sucks for just about everyone with an interest in gaming. But one person it maybe doesn’t suck for is Amazon Gaming boss Jeffrey Gattis, who said in a recent interview with The Game Business<\/a> that high hardware prices could be good for Luna, the company’s cloud gaming business.<\/p>\n

Gattis said cloud gaming has historically “been a little bit of a solution in search of a problem,” thanks primarily to the relatively low cost of consoles. Because of that, Amazon’s goal with Luna hasn’t been to supplant consoles, but rather to expand gaming to players who for one reason or another aren’t interested in buying the requisite hardware.<\/p>\n

Given the way prices have gone (and will likely continue to go<\/a>), Gattis thinks, probably not incorrectly, that demographic is probably going to grow\u2014and therein lies the opportunity.<\/p>\n

“We saw the Steam Machine opening at $1,000,” Gattis said. “We hear rumors about consoles, because of the RAM crisis, pushing up over $1,000 in Gen 10. So, I do think you get to a point at which more people will be in the consideration set for a cloud gaming solution, just because of the sheer cost of buying dedicated hardware.”<\/p>\n

The rising cost of games<\/a> is also a consideration: “Games can be big investments, to go buy a $70 game, to go through the download experience, to pair a controller, and then spend hundreds of hours, in some cases, to complete them. So, we see an opportunity to serve a group of people who haven’t really been well served because the console and PC companies are mostly focused on those hardcore players.”<\/p>\n

Amazon jumped into mainstream gaming with both feet several years ago, but despite having limitless money to throw at the problem it was never able to make serious inroads: Its biggest success was the MMO New World, and that one wasn’t big enough to dodge the bullet<\/a> when Amazon decided it was time to take the whole enterprise out behind the woodshed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But now, according to Gattis, Amazon knows exactly what it’s doing. “For the first time in a long time, I feel like we have a single gaming strategy. We understand what we’re doing, we understand what we’re not doing, and we’re executing against it. And time will tell how well we can execute and how right we are about our thesis.”<\/p>\n

One of the challenges facing Luna is the selection of games it offers: Leading with AI-powered Judge Snoop Dogg<\/a> is not the sort of thing that gives me high hopes for a platform. It does, however, afford me the opportunity to run the trailer!<\/p>\n

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