I think the credit for that probably goes more to John Lennon and the nature of the business itself.
The band had certainly morphed into something totally different than what they’d started with in the 1950s.
No more clubs. No more direct interaction with the audience. Eventually no public performance at all (televised or individual appearances instead).
Drug addiction complicated matters (John got on heroin).
While they had some original songs when George Martin signed them, he didn’t care for their music. He liked the “group” dynamic and the jokes and saw something marketable in that.
Within a couple of years, the songs they are writing sound like nothing they’d been singing or writing previously.
And they keep getting pushed to “take it farther”.
They aren’t trying to “reach new heights” anymore. And the remaining 2 (or 3 when it was still 3) didn’t want to tarnish what’d been put out there already by adding a “new” album of “new” studio cuts.
When they got in the game, a performer was only hot for a few years. Even Frank Sinatra had to climb back up to attention. The Rolling Stones are as surprised as anyone that they were able to run so long with it. They’ve been billing the tours since 1981 as “final”.