Graphics at console launch?

[OurJud]

In that a console's graphical capabilities don't change (with the exception of later upgrades such as the PS4 Pro) why are the graphics in games towards the end of the console's life so much better than they were with the launch games?

 

Logic says that it's simply because developers need time to explore the machine's full capabilities, but surely by now they know enough to be 'maxing' a console out at launch?

 

Or are we being drip-fed, where developers and console makers are working on the assumption that we as gamers expect games to improve within a console's life, and that if they start with game's that push it to its limits they have no where to go from there?

[Kingbing]

Software upgrades for the console, coding improvements to take up less resources, optimization improvements, and the developers being more experienced with the console are all reasons why graphics would look better. They wouldn't purposely make a game have bad graphics just because it's an early release.