Not all of this technology is new per se. Cloud-based instances for 3D rendering have been around for a while, and do a lot of what Google’s putting into Stadia. Other services that have been experimenting with gaming-specific cloud-based structures have used this kind of technology, but often lack the type of resources Google has when it comes to controlling the connection between the computer the service is being used on, and the data centre the service is hosted at.
Stuff has been heading in this direction for a while, but with Google moving into it, it looks like it’s going to be more readily available a lot sooner than it might have been before.
It may end up putting a delay or new spin on the next generation of consoles, though. Not so much on computers, maybe, aside from the need to upgrade parts so quickly diminishing.
