In the gaming world (at least the parts I touch) there was a widespread belief that Stadia would be shut down by Google and therefore it was foolish to buy game

In the gaming world (at least the parts I touch) there was a widespread belief that Stadia would be shut down by Google and therefore it was foolish to buy games on the platform. See the running joke on SkillUp's youtube channel[1] for example. Part of that was driven by the business model whereby you pay full price for games but if the service goes away you have nothing. This was trying somehow to compete with subscription models from Sony and Microsoft where you pay for the hardware + a monthly subscription but that gives you games which you then own and can play on a continuous basis because you also own the hardware. [1] https://www.youtube.com/c/SkillUp https://www.youtube.com/c/SkillUp