I figured cloud streaming was an attempt to rent gaming PCs to people who couldn’t afford an up front purchase but could reliably come up with $30-$100/mo or some shit. They wanted to sell even non-gamers on the idea that for a very tiny upfront purchase of a thin client - or even just installing an app - would get them a console or desktop like experience.

Lack of consumer demand is the only reason why it isn’t being pushed anymore. They made a solid effort but streaming comes with loads of limitations. It’s hard to mod. It’s hard to get your saves and port them around. You never actually own anything. Probably the biggest thing of all is that you need a solid ISP just to try and play, then you throw in the fact that all these plebs are using wireless for everything and their wifi is hot garbage or they’re on DSL because they’re poor and live in the sticks and it’s effectively unplayable. You can forget about game streaming while traveling or on a cellular connection too, or even while at a hotel.