I'm not willing to pay more for less performance.  I am only interested in paying less, or possible about the same amount for more convenience.  I see that Stadia (and other streaming services) may allow me to pay less.  Right now, I need at least two, preferably three consoles (not different platforms, but three XBs or PSs, for example) to hit most of the places I'd like to play. I wouldn't buy more than one at launch, which makes gaming even less convenient in the short run for me.  But, I'd pick up one or two more as prices drop.  So, let's say $1000 of consoles over the generation.  Then I have a $60 per year subscription to play online.  Then I have game purchases on top of that.  With Stadia, everything except the game purchase is eliminated.  Or, if I want to spend $10 a month for improved performance, it will take 8 years before I spend that $1000 that I would spend on consoles.  And, I still save the online game subscription.  After all of that savings, I have more convenience gaming too.  

I don't know how streaming is going to work out.  I plan to continue buying consoles for the foreseeable future.  But, I do see that streaming has potential to make gaming much more convenient, and possibly more affordable.  

I am also interested to see how Gamepass (and similar services) works cross-gen.  I already own two XBones.  So, if all games are cross-gen for a while, I could add just once Scarlett on my main gaming TV, then put the bones at the other TVs.  That would kind of give me the best of both worlds, without spending a ton of money.  

So you have bought 3 PS4 or X1 to game? If not you are just making silly point to inflate something.

Per your post if you bought one PS4 at launch at 399 and one on a discount 199 how would that amount to 1000? Strange math over there. Online play sure you could pay 60USD, or use any of the regular discounts for under 39, not that it would make much difference anyway.

Your console management seems quite odd.

If you want to play 1080p30fps to avoid paying 10 bucks for subs, then you may as well not even go next gen since you already receive 1080p30fps this gen with plenty of games. If you are willing to compare the experience of the local console giving you pristine graphics at 4k versus 1080p30fps plus latency "for convenience" well enjoy yourself.

I'm pretty satisfied with my PS4 sitting on one TV and carrying it over when I travel and want to play, bought PS4Pro for added performance not because I needed to use on a different TV. My son have received the PS4 to play though.

I do not have three of any console right now.   I have two XBones, as I said.  I only have one PS4.  This lack of a console on every TV is a big part of what makes me interested in streaming.  

My math is based on the expected $500 launch price of next gen systems.  I'm not inflating anything.  I'm using reasonable numbers to demonstrate how streaming may work well for some gamers.  

I'm not sure why you're getting so worked up over someone else having different gaming priorities than you.  Streaming services may be good options for some gamers, like me.  If you don't like streaming, don't buy it.  There will still be consoles, especially if streaming fails to deliver quality experiences.  So, I see no reason that anyone should dislike streaming as an option for people that are interested.  

I do not expect that streaming will replace local devices for me anytime soon.  I am hoping that streaming will supplement consoles, and add a new gaming option for me, and anyone else that's interested.

Well I was trying to be generous to Stadia by only assuming the Gamepass user would have a value of 100 games. In reality there are hundreds of games on Gamepass and PSN. But sure let's assume our Stadia user is playing 15 big name games for $60 on release, and 85 $20 games. After the $10 monthly price of a 4K Stadia sub their average price per game would be $34.4. That's still higher than the Gamepass user's $17.60, and we haven't even factored in possible internet overage charges, or the cost of a Stadia Controller + Dongle. I intentionally left those two things out of the comparison because I wanted to give Stadia a favorable comparison. 

Also, Stadia will be available without a monthly subscription.  That changes the math substantially.  

Sure, but XBL and PS+ are optional too. And a 1080/60 with lag gaming experience isn't comparable to a 4K/30-60 gaming experience with no lag. It has to be a 1:1 comparison.  So I left Stadia Pro in. And again, to give Stadia a leg up I left XBL or PS+ in as well. You need Stadia Pro to do 4K. You don't need PS+ or XBL to do 4K. 


Finally, even if the average price per game is lower over a seven year period, that doesn't take into account the time value of money.  That $500 upfront purchase is a different animal than an occasional outlay for a game, or even a monthly subscription. 

Sure thing. Let's assume somebody put the $500 they saved into stocks that gave a 5% return per year. After inflation and seven years of interest that $500 would be worth about $700. And a used console even from last gen usually sells for $100. So there's a time to value difference of $100. But you're also saving money from gamepass and we would have to account for the time value of not paying $34.4 on average per game (and instead paying $17.60 on average.) 

I think the ability to play anywhere is overvalued. But that's subjective so I'll leave it alone. I'd like this conversation to be about the value of Stadia vs the value of Gamepass Ultimate + Scarrlett and/or PS Now + PS5. 

Google should call it an early access because it is. Not a launch. Only the founders edition buyers will have access to it. If someone today buys the premier edition that replaced the founders, then will have to wait to 2020 (no date announced yet) to have access to it.

One dev was talking about the interesting part of making games on Stadia from the ground up is that the development of the game happens 100% on the cloud, even if the team is scattered around the world, they all will have access to the project and can work on it without having to be physically in one place, and they don't have to download/upload large amount of data to other team members.

Nah. Google is the EA of tech companies, the chances they pull the plug on this one after no more than a few years is extremely high.

yea, I'll definitely pick up a game at stadia, probably early next year - hopefully some Anno games make it to the service

Nobody knows how willing a company is to operate with loss until they earn the market or give up. Spotify has been running with losses since launch and just now they are getting close to break even, after acheiving 108+ million paying users.

Amazon online sales operate at loss, it is the other Bezos businesses like the the cloud computing (AWS) which makes the money that offset the losses he takes with Amazon, with the single objective to kill the competition in online and retail sales.

Maybe Google is willing to run a decade long loss, offset by the money they make on their other branches in order to aim for market dominance.

Nah, I'm waiting for the true next gen experience in 2020!