Consoles going the way of the dodo is an inevitability. When every device is powerful enough to do anything we want and internet is crazy fast, there will be no need for dedicated hardware. And I personally can't wait for this future. When everyone focuses on just making great games instead of trying to push features and platforms on us, it will be a bright new age of gaming. (Some might say that microtransactions and subscriptions will destroy us all during this time, but I think devs will find that there's a lot of profit to be had in not being crappy. Especially when your install base is just about everyone in the world.)

I don't know if it will happen any time soon. Maybe not even as soon as you say. But it will definitely happen.

With all the virus's and hacker's it might not be the smartest thing to do...can't steal my hard copy unless you break into my house, and even then lol

Look, back in the day they said there would be a PS9. I still believe that. So shush.

Ms doesn't want to sell of their gaming decision. The share holders do. And it's always been like that.

"My Future Predictions"

Are there other kinds of predictions?

I sometimes predict the past. I'm always correct on those predictions.

As long as there are televisions, there will always be a need for a device to sit under it, hooked up and ready to go. Whether that's a streaming device or not, there WILL always be a need for hardware of some kind to sit under you TV. 

I think MS, Sony and Nintendo will still sell hardware because of this. I think it'll be like little Apple TV devices with each companies streaming service attachted to it. Basically, it'll be the same thing we have now only with no physical games to actually own.

In other words, much... much... worse.

Never and 2 reasons for that. With the current business model for streaming services, streaming will never be a fully viable alternative to dedicated hardware. Secondly, smart devices might get a lot stronger, but the top of the top of smart devices has recently just reached the graphic prowess of the Xbox 360 and PS3. so they are a long way behind the current gen conseles. by the time they caught up, console hardware will have evolved much further again.

So no, subscription based streaming services wont fully replace dedicated hardware with digital/retail releases.

This is a no brainer.... its better and easier to have server farms of hardware that runs games as a service than it is to keep on pushing out dedicated hardware that will always come with an expiration date. no argument there; however there are a few major things that must be considered.

For this to work, everything is entirely based on just how good people's internet connections become. As the only real limiter to your market size is how many people have access to internet that can handle realtime gaming at as much as 4k resolution. You also need to consider latency, especially with online multiplayer games.

If those two issues can be tackled, then games as a service becomes an immediate bonafide reality.

However, I don't see that happening for another 20yrs at best. And till that happens, games as a service will remain an option that is tacked on to dedicated consoles just as PSnow is right now. Its not that you won't be able to do it in the coming years... its more like to do it now would mean you are settling for a sub par gaming experience.

I don't know why there has to be a local device.  In this future they'll be able to afford to run anything and just stream it to us through our TV.  Or if there is a device involved, it will just be whatever wearable device/phone people keep on themselves at all times.  It will be powerful enough to stream to any screen they come across.  The idea of having a box sitting in front of your TV is going to be pretty archaic one of these days.