If you would have asked me a year ago, I would have thought that the XB1/PS4/WiiU would have been the last generation of consoles.  I had thought that with gaming moving to streaming and gamers being mostly OK with digital downloads of games and this Gen being able to hit 1080p/60fps(Remember, a year ago the PS4 and XB1 hadn't launched yet), we had finally hit the sweet spot.

A year later, we know that streaming games is going to happen, but it will be many years before they can have internet speeds powerful enough that the MAJORITY of gamers can really make it work.  We have also learned that if we really want a significant jump in graphics and gameplay (size of the worlds type thing), it will be difficult for even the PS4 to hit the 1080p/60fps without giving something up.

So, it seems that at least one more generation of consoles(maybe 2 for Nintendo) will have to come about to get us to the real sweet spot.  It would seem to me that the next gen Xbox/PS consoles should be 100% backwards compatible.  If that is the case, it might only be 4-5 years at the most before they can replace the PS4/XB1.  Game developers could make games that can scale up and down to whichever console they are bought for. 

Regardless of what is next for the consoles, I still believe that the need for a stand-alone console will only keep going down as all of the other devices that we own keep getting more powerful.

So, how many more years before the need for a console goes away completely?

Is it 5 years?

8 years?

10 Years?

15 Years?

Never?  

You mean an era of monopoly and without competition? Nope. Console gaming is not going anywhere.

17 weeks 4 days 5 hours 52 minutes and 17 seconds as of posting this

I think Console gaming will continue on as a way to connect to your TV. I do think MSFT will be going to connected devices though with XBL. PC, Tablets, Phones, and Xbox. THough mostly PC and XBox. We already have hints of this with WIndows 10.

Sony is in the same boat. They will be on connected devices as well with PSN(+). We are already seeing them going to Sony TV's and anything sony related. I expect them to be on PC as well.

So bacically i believe it wont just be consoles, itll be Consoles+PC and in ways other devices

So February 16 of 2015?  Isn't that a bit too soon?

That thing of consoles extintion is a myth, the demand for home consoles prove this, consoles will prevail if they keep selling, and they are.. so when you see very bad numbers on all competition (if this happens will be on a new gen only) you will know they the console Era will be coming to an end, right now that isn't happening..

never

Home consoles: Never

Portable consoles: within decade or so?

That was going to be one of my choices, but I didn't want to offend anyone.

The XO/PS4 generation will last for quite awhile. After that, I think we'll have another generation of home consoles. After that? It's too far away to speculate.

The thing is, people keep saying that set-top boxes will replace home consoles but I see no evidence of that happening anytime soon because home consoles can do what set-top boxes can do while delivering much better games. It's like people saying that bicycles will replace motorcycles. As far as I can tell, there is a market for both.

Will set-top boxes be able to stream CoD one day? Sure, but the state of the world's internet is far from that being an option for everyone. I live in the US and there is no internet in my area fast enough to meet the Playstation Now requirements.