It’s a case of 5 games in and almost fifty out for Amazon Luna this December

With Stadia shutting down on January 18th, you might think that now is the time for Amazon to double down on its Luna cloud gaming service but sadly this doesn’t appear to be the case. The rumor that Amazon send Luna down the same path as Stadia appeared a few weeks ago, and now we have news that despite there being five free titles headed to the Prime Gaming Channel this month there will be at least 46 titles leaving the service.

The following five titles are being added to the Prime Gaming Channel during December:

• Windjammers 2 – Windjammers 2 reminds players that throwing flying discs at your opponents is still as cool as it was back in the day, now including new challengers, stages, mechanics, and awesome power moves! Players can make their heads spin and enhance their windjammin’ experience by mastering the slapshot, drop shot, jump, smash, the powerful EX MOVE, and enjoy the terrific soundtrack coming straight out of the ’90s
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero – In The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero, players will take on the role of Lloyd Bannings as he returns to his hometown to follow his late brother’s footsteps and join the Crossbell Police Department. However, he finds himself assigned to a ragtag new division called the Special Support Section, which performs odd jobs and helps people in need
• Dusk – In DUSK, players must master a world of butchery and bloodshed if they want to survive until dawn. In three distinct campaign episodes hand-crafted straight out of the 1990s, players will battle through an onslaught of mystical backwater cultists, possessed militants, and even darker forces and attempt to discover just what lurks beneath the Earth
• Joggernauts – Joggernauts encourages players to jog, jump and switch while coordinating through the crazy conga line of alien athletes in this auto-runner and puzzle platformer for 1–4 players. No jogger is left behind while the team works together to switch places at just the right time to beat color-coded levels in a co-op that’s actually cooperative. 
• The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf – In a dusty grimoire, the wizard Gargamel just put his hands on the formula of an evil plant: the VILEAF which produces “VILETRAP” seeds that attract and imprison Smurfs. These VILETRAP plants are also a great danger for the forest, as they are toxic, so Papa Smurf decides to ask some of his fellow Smurfs to help him find the ingredients for a super powerful antidote for all the plants sick from the VILEAF curse.

The titles leaving Amazon Luna in December include the following (as reported by CloudDosage)

• Tumblestone (Dec. 1, 2022)
• Phogs (Dec. 1, 2022)
• Chorus (Dec. 1, 2022)
• Furi (Dec. 1, 2022)
• Ghost of a Tale (Dec. 1, 2022)
• Iconoclasts (Dec. 1, 2022)
• Rez Infinite (Dec. 1, 2022)
• R-Type Dimensions (Dec. 1, 2022)
• Steamworld Dig (Dec. 1, 2022)
• Victor Vran (Dec. 1, 2022)
• Resident Evil 7 (Dec. 8, 2022)
• Yakuza Like a Dragon (Dec. 8, 2022)
• Thimbleweed Park (Dec. 15, 2022)
• Super Mega Baseball Extra Innings (Dec. 15, 2022)
• Super Mega Baseball 3 (Dec. 15, 2022)
• The Surge 2 (Dec. 15, 2022)
• Judgment (Dec. 15, 2022)
• Myst (Dec. 15, 2022)
• Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Dec. 22, 2022)
• Contra Anniversary Collection (Dec. 22, 2022)
• The Pillars of the Earth (Dec. 22, 2022)
• Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (Dec. 22, 2022)
• Deponia Doomsday (Dec. 22, 2022)

• Edna & Harvey: The Breakout (Dec. 22, 2022)
• Edna & Harvey: Harvey’s New Eyes (Dec. 22, 2022)
• Yakuza Zero (Dec. 23, 2022)
• Yooka-Laylee (Dec. 29, 2022)
• Enter the Gungeon (Dec. 29, 2022)
• Smite Battlegrounds of the Gods (Dec. 29, 2022)
• Olija (Dec. 29, 2022)
• Gris (Dec. 29, 2022)
• Katana Zero (Dec. 29, 2022)
• Disc Room (Dec. 29, 2022)
• Samurai Warriors 5 (Dec. 29, 2022)
• Carrion (Dec. 29, 2022)
• Epic Chef (Dec. 29, 2022)
• Dirt Rally 2.0 (Dec. 31, 2022)
• Dirt 5 (Dec. 31, 2022)
• Transformers Battlegrounds (Dec. 31, 2022)
• Dreamworks Troll Hunters Defenders of Arcadia (Dec. 31, 2022)
• DreamWorks Dragons Dawn of New Riders (Dec 31, 2022)
• DreamWorks Spirit Lucky’s Big Adventure (Dec 31, 2022)
• Adventure Time Pirates of the Enchiridion (Dec 31, 2022)

It’s unclear why Amazon Luna is losing quite so many games in what should be its biggest month of the year in terms of new subscribers. It could be a result of Amazon’s cost-cutting by way of trimming the fat from underperforming departments, a simple lack of commitment to the Luna platform, or just a bunch of licenses running out in the same month. We’ve asked the Luna PR about this, and will hopefully receive an answer soon.