How was your experience with lag and what kinds of games were you playing the most?

The twitchy multiplayer game I played the most was Destiny 2, and I didn't observe any worse lagging than on Steam with the same internet connection. I can't remember if Destiny on Stadia was cross-platform - it very well could be that all other players were on Stadia too and were equally hampered.

I didnt try stadia, but I did try a PlayStation Now trial some time ago. I only played single player games, but some were first person shooters where you’d expect lag to matter. My experience was also very good and I didn’t have any issues with lag. I kept forgetting that I was streaming.

But I have gigabit internet (and before I got that, had 300 Mb/s) and played with a wired connection, so that’s likely a contributor to my positive experience.

I'd say its more of an infrastructure issue than an implementation issue, at least in the US where consistent uninterrupted broadband access is still kind of a giant clusterfuck in many places due to de facto regional monopolies and ISPs not feeling much pressure due to real competition.

No amount of delivery tech is going to make up for the infrastructure being unfit for purpose in so many areas.

I am symmetrical gigabit fiber internet with an Eero 6 Pro in the U.S., and the lag is quite robust. I don't see a way of solving that.

And, as you say, a lot of people don't have access to high-quality internet, and there is no reason to believe they will any time soon.

Wireless internet will always make lag unbearable for that kind of stuff.

But surely the main use case for cloud gaming that can be played anywhere is over a wireless connection?