That's a good question. In my view Google was selling remote compute, remote graphics rendering, and charging a subscription fee for that. Just like GeForce now. Remember GeForce now and shadow, we're both remote game streaming platforms that existed before stadia.

So Google comes along and says hey for a little bit more money than GeForce now, we're going to let you render and stream games from our data centers. Just like GeForce now just like shadow.

Unlike those other platforms, you can't bring your own library, you have to also buy the games from us, at full retail price. Even if the game is cheaper on steam.

So it was both a subscription service, and a wall garden with higher than normal prices.

It's like subscribing to Netflix, and also having to buy the movies to watch. Pick your lane Google

Anyway I understand your position, I'm just trying to articulate as a cloud gamer at the time stadia came out, I was enthusiastic, but disappointed with their pricing model which didn't seem competitive.

I think their options were to a, charge a monthly subscription, and allow people to bring their own libraries, like the steam library.

Or b. Charge for games, and then stream for free.

Doing both puts them in a significant market disadvantage, and I didn't want to own games that were tied to a Google platform, because Google has a long storied history of shutting down platforms after a few years. I didn't want to own games on a platform that would disappear. 100% Google's reputation prevented me from trying out their platform because I didn't trust them to be around for more than a few years

At the time stadia came out as a game streaming platform Geforce now, and Shadow already were established, both of those services charged a subscription but let you bring your own library.

Google's Offering required you to subscribe AND buy full priced retail games that you couldn't use elsewhere, so it wasn't competitive with geforce now and shadow.

It's not a weird take..... because Geforce now and shadow are both still in business now, and stadia is not, they were not able to convince cloud gamers to take their offer.

I'm just articulating why I, as a cloud gamer at the time they release their product, stayed with different providers. They didn't exist in the vacuum, GeForce now, and shadow, both existed, allowed you to use a pre-existing libraries, didn't charge per game.

GeForce now was cheaper, Shadow was more expensive but provided better resolution.

So Google comes into the mix, and their option, while I wanted to try it, wasn't palatable for me as a cloud gamer at the time.

Scenario 1: buy the game on steam, play it on local hardware, or GeForce now for $5 a month

Scenario 2: buy the game on steam, play it on shadow, or local hardware, for $20 a month

Scenario 3: by the game from Google for more than it costs on steam, only be able to play it on stadia, and pay I think it was $15 a month.

You can see why I chose scenarios 1 and 2 instead.