https://www.techradar.com/news/google-stadia-games-will-cost-the-same-as-full-price-console-titles-even-if-theyre-only-streamed

Thanks, I had not seen that before.  Deal breaker for me personally.  If games are priced the same, Stadia ends up with no significant benefit over buying a ps5 or building a PC.  

Ummm... sure?  It sounds like you're arguing against a point that I didn't make.  I didn't at any point say or imply that stadia was the only option. People who would rather do so can spend money, up front or over time, on a console.  If I'm willing to put up with the lag and don't care about any of the system's other features, I can buy it on stadia, and buy 4-500 dollars worth of games, buy my family decent holiday gifts, buy 4-500 Cadbury Creme Eggs, buy a moderately priced prostitute, go to some concerts, buy tickets to see the Jets lose, or just fill my bathtub with pennies and splash around in them.

Point is any way you choose to spend money on a new console, it's money that could be spent on something else.  If I could get to play the games I want in reasonable quality without spending that money, I'm in favor. Having worked at an average local electronics store for quite some time, I am positive that I'm not the only one.

Xbox is offering a no upfront cost payment plan with the XB1 and Scarrlett. If Sony follows suit, Stadia users will largely be using the free version. There might be a blue ocean of people out there with a good internet connection, that don't care about resolution, and don't want to pay a monthly bill or buy a console. But those people were never going to get a console or PC anyway. So it's not competition with PS5/Scarrlett at that point. Kind of like how the Wii wasn't really competition for 360/PS3 back in the day. So if Stadia has any amount of success at all it would be pure growth for the industry. That's a good thing.

I could see Stadia getting 30 - 50 million people using the free version by the end of next gen. That's a pretty low number considering it's a free service. One person buying five game on the free version of Stadia =/= one person buying a console and fifteen games.

All the time I thought Stadia was a subscription model where you can play a ton of games for $10 a month, which would actually be pretty cool. But it's actually $10 a month for the subscription, $130 for the starter kit and the games themselves sell for the same price as on ps4 and Xbox... I only see this working out for Google if the games look and run better than what's possible on consoles. But if not and there's only the slightest hint of input lag, this is gonna fail hard.

Microsoft tried to do the financing thing when the 360 with Kinect came out.  I worked at Best Buy and I think we sold like... 3 of them.  TBH if anyone really was interested in that when we mentioned it, we'd push the Best Buy credit card instead.  Which to be fair wound up being cheaper for the customer anyway.  Might be more attractive with game pass, but it still winds up being 100 dollars more in the end, while most store cards would give you interest free financing for 1.5-2 years anyway. 

Google doesn't want to pull a Epic model by buying exclusivity and receive more hate from the community. They are oppening their own first-party studios. The 1st studio was open in Montreal recently. And it seems that Google doesn't care if it will take years until we can see a big 1st party title, they already are commited to at least 10 years of support for the platform.

Ha! 

Yeah, when I bought my original PS4 in 2015 they set me up with the credit card, and no interest for a year and a half. Then they threw in Fallout 4 for free, 10% back on my first purchase, and the PS4 came with Uncharted Collection which I sold for $30. And if you spent a certain amount you got another game for free. So I think I wound up paying $150 for my original PS4, when all freebies were factored in. I've been a Best Buy Gamer's Club Unlocked Member since then. My poor membership is expiring for good in about two weeks. Oh well. I enjoyed the hell out of getting brand new games for $35-$45 for four years. Good times. :D

But anyway yeah. The whole no upfront costs argument goes away when you factor in interest free credit cards. 

It costs 0 by 2020. the free version has no subscription and you can use any controller you want or keyboard and mouse. Google confirmed online gaming on Stadia will be free with the free model, something you need to pay 60 bucks a year on consoles. Many were speculating that online gaming would only be accessible with the sub model.

I mean, some people have bad credit or don't want to sign up for a credit card because it hurts their credit score.  But other than that, it's hard to see the benefit. Maybe those people shouldn't be financing things anyway, but that's their life.  Rent-a-center made a whole business out of this kind of thing, so I guess there's a market for it, at least with bigger tick items.