The image is from Amazon.
Luna was the first cloud gaming service to run on Windows. It wouldn't need to convince developers to painstakingly port their games to a platform. Amazon is looking to hire three software engineers to bring Windows games to Linux, and it appears that the company is considering a shift to Linux-based server as well.
The idea isn't to abandon Windows games, like Valve's Steam Deck. Both the Steam Deck and Amazon's seemingly new Luna initiative will still run Windows games, but they will do it through Valve's Proton compatibility layer.
His role involves working with a compatibility layer to run Windows games on Linux using Wine. Luna is committed to working with the open source community. The role will commit code to open source projects such as Wine and Proton in pursuit of running games in a stable and performant manner.
The three jobs that were posted on December 6th mention a tool called "DXVK", which is a helpful tool thattranslates from Microsoft's Direct3D graphics APIs to Vulkan.
It is not clear why Amazon would want to adopt Linux, but it is possible that it is about keeping Amazon Luna's games easily sandboxed so that new updates don't break compatibility.
The gaming community will tell you that Windows games can run well on Linux, though some have issues, and that one category in particular, multiplayer games with anti-cheat software, can be problematic. It seems that Amazon may help convince developers to use the Steam Deck, as Valve is pushing to improve that in time for the February launch.
We don't know if Amazon Luna has been a success. We weren't very impressed with our launch, but I've heard it's gotten better since It gets less attention than Stadia, and it lost its head executive in February. New World has been one of the most-played games on Steam since it was released in September, despite the fact that Amazon has yet to follow through with gaming. Maybe things are getting better?
Cloud gaming companies have an unusual opportunity right now because next-gen consoles and graphics cards are hard to find and expensive to buy. If New World comes to Luna, it will be interesting to see if it spurs a wave of adoption.
Amazon did not reply to the request for comment.
