At some point the system may change anyhow.
The console generation cycle has always relied on experiences that were fundamentally unachievable with prior hardware. If there's no novelty involved, any new console generation becomes a bit of a hard sell. Graphics advancement has significantly slowed down. Whilst actual photo realism is still a good few years away -- not every game may sell on realism as is already. This is also a part of the triple-A crisis: "Decent graphics" are pretty much everywhere. Much like special effects in Hollywood, it's all dime a dozen. It's hard to truly "WOW" anybody anymore.
For decades, studios could rely on that Police Academy 25, er, Assassin's Creed 15 would sell anyhow, as it looked so much more realistic than the one before it. No more. And one day games may be consumed the same way as movies -- or similar. It's when people don't at all care how old a game is. For as long as it's not from the stone ages of video gaming, where hardware limitations proved still a severe challenge. They aren't really anymore. Haven't been for a few years already.
Outside of ultra realistic graphics and literally building the holodeck, game makers could make anything they wanted to make today. Only that, they rarely do. They are afraid to do it. Or aren't allowed to make it. As with rising budgets comes rising risk. Even THE NEXT BIG THING this industry is waiting for is another sequel to a franchise now entering its third decade. Meanwhile Warren Spector's once dream project idea is far more likely to be tackeled by 'em indies -- naturally, with a more focused scope, rather than GOING ALL IN WITH EM MILLIONS OF CA$H.