>>53128173these things never occur in a single moment. imo it began with the unexpected success of gen1, but the slight and elongated downturn through gen3 made them reevaluate. thats why imo gen3-4 had some of the best cartridge and tcg environments with tons of great pokemon and character designs to merchandise. thats when they rebuilt their foundation, but eventually culminated into things like pokemon go, the unfocused features, nickle and diming their customers, and cutting the pokedex.
very simplified, but thats my perspective
