Stadia is the reason why I am not looking to buy a next gen game console

 

What if I told you that you can game for free on your existing smartphone or tablet, laptop, or desktop with no investment into the platform. What if I said you can play on your TV for about $100 give or take the current promotion that may be occurring at the time. And all you need for this to work is an internet connection. Sounds pretty good to me. Almost too good to be true.

Before I go on, I will admit Stadia is not for everyone. The game library has grown significantly over its 18 months or so of existence but is still lacking some heavy hitters. According to some folks on the interwebs. I gravitate to sports games and fortunately, the latest from said sports games are available. From NBA 2K 21 to Madden 21 to Fifa 21. 

The service itself is really good. It's a solid performer and tends to be stable especially with a good internet connection. Wired connection is probably the best way to play on Stadia, however, I play wirelessly exclusively and find it to be quite good. Things do lag up a bit at times but this is only when my home network is under heavy load with multiple streams from my kids, wife, and several cameras recording to the cloud.

The main reason why I choose Stadia to be my main console is for the convenience. The service is available when and where I want to play. The barrier of entry is very low and only really requires an internet connection. I bought into the service and purchased a few controllers and a Chromecast Ultra. Which is still significantly cheaper than buying a next-gen console. 

I embraced the cloud a long time ago and adding Stadia to the mix is a natural choice for me. My music is in the cloud. My photos are in the cloud. My documents are in the cloud. My movies are in the cloud. Literally, everything I do in my personal life lives in the cloud and I feel gaming should be no different. Clearly, Stadia is the future and it's only a matter of time before cloud streaming is mainstream and next-gen consoles will be looked at as a thing of the past. Kind of like DVD players.