Stadia "Pro" is something like the PlayStation "Plus" subscription - I think. Every month you get new free-to-play games, some discounts plus some perks like 4k

Stadia "Pro" is something like the PlayStation "Plus" subscription - I think. Every month you get new free-to-play games, some discounts plus some perks like 4k and surround. But that's totally optional, so you can just buy a title and play it whenever you want, without any running subscription. Besides, even if a subscription was needed to play, maybe I'd still feel that as a better option than buying a physical console that is mostly gathering dust, also considering it will be obsolete within a few years. But - again - this is from a very casual gamer POV. Once someone spends more time playing, and/or any fetishistic/collectible desire kicks in, then buying your own hardware makes much more sense.