Or at least kind of...
A wild report from The Information (subscription required) claims Google is working on a subscription-based gaming streaming service, delivered either over Google's Chromecast devices or via a totally new Google-made gaming console.
The service is codenamed "Yeti," and it would be similar to streaming services like PlayStation Now—users would pay a subscription fee to access a collection of games, which are run on a remote device and streamed over the Internet. The Information notes that "an early version" of this service was designed to work over a Chromecast, which is interesting since it's unclear how a game controller would ever hook up to a Chromecast. More recently, Google has reportedly started experimenting with a Google-developed game console and controller. The project is being led by two Google hardware executives—Mario Queiroz, VP of product management, and Majd Bakar, VP of engineering—so if this ever sees the light of day, new hardware seems likely.
I wonder how the talk of MS looking for acquisitions got started, because maybe MS might be looking to counter this thing via a Game Pass stream service. I wonder what the extent of this console will be. Streaming only, or will it be able to play games standalone as well? Is Google attempting to be a 4th player in consoles?
