It amuses me somewhat how some people who are enjoying the stadia enthuse that it's a blessed relief to not have to wait for updates, or installation times. I quite agree, which is why I stopped buying games half way through the xbox360 generation. It's how gaming used to be until publishers got quite so greedy and lazy. Maybe I should get a switch though, it seems to be less of a problem on that system.
If you buy the game online you have to wait for the download to finish ...
But normally you don't have to. At least every game is playable without and you can always download things later or automatically during the night.
And even if you have to, the files are much smaller than on PC and it won't take too long to finish.
BTW: The Switch has one huge advantage over PC. It's standby mode.
Why do I play Skyrim on Switch and not on PC (I even own the PC and never played it)?
Playing on my gaming Laptop:
1. Place Laptop near TV, plug in the cables
2. Boot Windows (Yes, I'm playing on Windows)
3. Start Steam
4. Klick through Big Picture Mode and start the game
(And play on the great but unfamiliar Steam Controller)
-> It's a pain to start games
Playing on the Switch:
1. Turn on TV
2. Press the Switch Power button
3. Press "A" on the Switch Pro controller
-> It takes seconds to start Playing
Stadia might be between the two.
I still would need to wire the Laptop and boot my Laptop and start Stadia and select the game (so many "and"s. Doesn't sound comfortable).
The only thing that will be faster is loading the game.
But the rest is still a pain to do.
And don't forget that I can't play when the stupid router is broken again or the internet is down. Steam has at least an offline mode.
After a stressful day at work that made me pretty angry as when I wanted to play online games.
Switch clearly wins for me