The gamepad could also store your account and host device settings (like brightness and volume), not just familiar hardware options like game-specific button bindings and general gamepad settings. You could visit a friend and instantly pick up where you left off.

Google originally filed the patent in 2014 (hence the Android KitKat-era “home” and “menu” buttons), and it’s quick to warn that the image you see above isn’t likely to be representative of any finished product, if there is one. Still, this may offer insight into how Google would approach an expansion of Project Stream into a full-fledged service. Rather than sell a whole console, it would just need a cloud-aware gamepad that can talk to the devices you already have.