Also, what about the elephant in the room? That would be Steam. I am very suprised that no one has mentioned that this is an assault on Valve. Unless the Shovel Knight on Steam can crossplay as well... it can't. How much of a chunk out of Steam can Microsoft take. This is their real ambition.

I thought of Steam as well. Valve supports Linux, but more than 90% of Steam users play on Windows devices. I think this is the big reason MS is pushing for this. Maybe this is how they are able to seamlessly transition to Online only gaming for their next system. I heard MS will still have XBox users behind the live subscription. But if they keep it at $40. I don't mind. since it also comes with free games monthly.

I have no doubt both MS, and Sony will be discless next gen. It was pretty clear both wanted to go that route this gen. I think Blu Ray was added more for people that own movies.

The popularity, and immense success of mobile gaming will be the biggest reason people will eventually accept it. Every year that goes by introduces newer gamers to the concept of just clicking an icon to play a game. By the time these kids are in their teens they will watch videos of kids reacting to todays consoles like how kids look at a walkman. I just wish there was a system in place of selling old digital games for credit towards newer games. That is my biggest beef with buying digital.

I stand by my opinion: I don't like indies, especially not the vocal developers. (Blowfish)

If it really is that easy to port a game from PC to Xbox One, you would be stupid not to do so. They will run the same OS and both will have DirectX12, so I can imagine, that it will be kind of easy to port a game.

Crossplay with / against PC gamers would be cool: Crossbuy would be freaking awesome.

I doubt digital only will be the next playstation, sony would be dumb to do that to get the exposure from competition from all around the industry. Whats the point of owning a console then?

5 years from now, I believe it will be more accepted.
Every year that goes by creates newer gamers whose first interaction with video games is on a tablet or smartphone. They will be fine with digital content. And steam boxes will also help usher it in.
I like digital content for accessibility, But I still prefer physical because of resale. If they can figure out a good resale model for digital games, it will be accepted even quicker.