Alright, so the Stadia Connect just ended and with it we got a decent list of games. The Tomb Raider 'trilogy' makes sense since Feral has been porting them to Linux (although the Vulkan requirement doesn't apply to the first game, so maybe that's not essential after all). We also have a lot of interesting ports like Mortal Kombat 11 and Metro Exodus.
One port of note to me is Final Fantasy XV. There was a Vulkan renderer in the works before Square pulled the plug on the game's continued development. This either means that the Vulkan work was completed during that time (perhaps for Stadia), or that they're using the Direct3D 11 renderer somehow. Given the selection of games they'll have out of the gate, it feels like Google may be using some sort of translation layer. Either that or they just have a lot of sway with (or cash to spend on) developers. I'm hoping it's the latter so we can see more investment with companies getting their engines and development workflows compatible with Linux in the first place.
However, given Google's pricing strategy (buying the games to play them, even when you pay monthly for Pro) doesn't seem to offer a substantial value over gaming on existing platforms unless you want compressed 4K 60 FPS HDR gameplay with some latency (how much we aren't sure yet). This could limit the platform's success, but I suppose it's also a way to ensure the developers are happy with their choice since they'll be getting the same amount of money they would on other platforms if a full game purchase is required. I suppose if you don't already own a modern gaming device, this is a decent way to try high-end gaming without much up-front cost. Now, if devs choose to include a Steam key with your Stadia purchase, that could change some minds.
What do you guys think about this? I suppose until we know native Vulkan renderers are required on the developer end rather than being automagically translated by Google to run on Debian, we can't know what kind of impact this will realistically have on Linux gaming.