You'll be successful, sure. You just have to practice a lot. A professor back in college told me that it takes 10,000 hours to become proficient at something. Practice a lot, like for 10,000 total hours and then keep going.
Midi controllers will be the go too "tools" (instruments, whatever). They're not inferior to "real instruments" at all...they're actually much much more superior. If you want reasons why, I'll share those in another post.You will be fine with just a DAW and a midi controller, yes. But you'll start to collect more things as you improve because you'll see how much fun it is. After a while, you'll want a few midi controllers, microphones, interfaces, etc. ...you'll start to build a home studio which will be sweet (I just got in a trumpet in mine, but I mainly use the midi keyboard).
As for working in a "real" studio eventually, don't count on it. It is possible, sure but the average "real" studios are going under because of home studios. Home studios are becoming more and more common as the technology becomes cheaper. Just go for making and working out of your own home studio. You can do much more than just create and sell records/music. A home studio has multiple functions and money earning potential.