I don't think this is a good defense of the service, in fact quite the opposite. The fact that you can't just buy access to it without buying the chromecast ul

I don't think this is a good defense of the service, in fact quite the opposite. The fact that you can't just buy access to it without buying the chromecast ultra hardware bundle just shows how half-baked the whole thing is. Especially since the chromecast ultra doesn't support non-Stadia controllers, so if you do want to play with say an Xbox controller google is bundlefucking you with hardware you will never use, which certainly doesn't make the service look any more attractive to people who might otherwise be interested.