Being able to quickly try out a game before downloading the honking thing is gamer hell?

I mean…yes. It is “not ideal”.

To many people, anything other than 240hz monitors running on an overclocked quad GTX 4080 is “not ideal”.

It’s an option for convenience in a world where many people have less than ideal circumstances, not a totalitarian push for cloud control. XCloud was only ever advertised as an extra feature, not some prime method of game delivery.

@Colorcodedresistor @Katana314 I agree with you. I tried streaming games using Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Network and it was all very laggy and sub par. If streaming games were the only way I could play games I would rather just go touch grass. I have and will most certainly build a PC just to play one game because I love video games and I will not settle for less.

cloud gaming is not the ideal solution for 'access' for those that would have to otherwise wait.

It is very ideal and is perfect for those scenarios...

anectodal but when crysis dropped in 07. it was what spurred me to save and build a PC in 2011 just to play Crysis, finally, at max settings the way it was properly meant to be enjoyed.

Now this is not a scenario for regular people. Nobody I know would drop cash on a new PC just to play a single game at max settings. Most people are just content that games work at a decent enough setting on the devices / console they have and that is what Game Pass offers.

Comparing Game Pass to watching movies in 240p is a false analogy. Most games on Game Pass run just fine, especially for the devices people play it on.