once the Ataribox is unleashed unto the world

Not anytime soon. There's always new ways to do things that keep pushing hardware requirements further and further away. Even once we get photorealistic graphics, industry will move to Ray Tracing based graphics that will demand even more power.

And of course, there's the streaming services, that could actually be the end of traditional consoles. But that won't happen anytime soon either.

I mean sure when technology no longer improves and we are stuck with that same technology forever. Honestly you have a better chance waiting for a meteor to destroy all of mankind.

Yes, and do people think console manufactures don't want that? They don't make money on the hardware they make it on the software.

8k 240fps, what more do you need? An open world can only be so big till it becomes unfinishable, graphics can't get more realistic beyond photorealism.

No, and your need are irrelevant when the profits of big corporations are involved.

The Xbox 1 x is very powerful. A lot of people still have to buy a 4K tv to fully enjoy it. So while I think there will always be new consoles. We may get to the point we’re the next gen consoles are sold farther apart.

Yes, when we reach the point when the internet connections are good enough for high-quality streams with no noticable jaggies, aliasing, artifacts, lag and stutters. Then it will be more efficient, convenient and probably cheaper to render the games in big data centers than on millions of separate small boxes.

But that will take at least one or two decades, since we need most of the traffic bandwith for downloading porn. ;)

Never say never in the tech industry. We've learned that the hard way. Wanting to stay stagnant and not wanting to progress is cancer in the tech industry. That's all I'll say.

Well, don't we seldom have to buy new microwave ovens, fridges, washing machines etc.?

One day, say, a decade or two from now, when the technical aspects of the hardware won't advance any further, it will be just about the same, people will buy a new one when the old one breaks, or because of new functions, or fancier and better looks etc. and whatever games which can't be played on local hardware because they are too demanding will be streamed like a service.

It will possibly be the end of what some economists call the information technology supercycle: technical achievements will plateau, competition will increase and the profit margins of tech companies (which dominate the ranks of largest companies now as they did by the 1999 - 2000 stock bubble) will fall more in line with other businesses.

That's what I make of it, at least.

With drastically increasing technology, there will always be demand and appeal for a new format to engage in games.  What form will that take and who will be left holding the strings is the real question.  Even as we look to server hosted games and different UI presentations, there will always be a physical component that will change and shift and there will always be a unifying version that trends.