Ahead of Google’s official announcement of Google Stadia, rumors arose in the last months about what exactly the tech giant planned to do in the gaming space. But, as Google’s Phil Harrison told me, those plans never included a proper physical console.
I spoke with Harrison at GDC 2019 following Google Stadia’s official reveal keynote. He noted that particular interest in Google’s game initiative came after last year’s Project Stream collaboration with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. But despite whatever rumors may have popped up, Google did not intend to make a proper console like a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.
“The world abhors a vacuum and when we weren’t telling the full story coming out of Project Steam, inevitability there was going to be speculation,” he said. “There was never a console, there was never going to be a console, there never will be a console.”
Source: IGN.com There 'Never Was' a Console for Google Stadia