I wouldn't say lazy. I'd say more... incapable.
Even from day one, they couldn't program a competent game if their lives depended on it (and from what I hear about business practices in Japan, their lives probably do depend on it). At its core, Pokemon is a mediocre turn-based JRPG with monster collection mechanics. It's nothing we haven't seen before, even at the time it came out in 1996. But they struck gold. It caught on because of the huge advertising, the wide audience appeal in the art direction reaching a perfect balance between cute and cool, and being backed by the video game juggernaut that is Nintendo for support on every front. Not to mention it was built on a handheld, and being able to play the game literally whenever you want was revolutionary at the time (most handhelds at the time were short, and had no multiplayer interaction). It was the perfect storm; If any of these factors were different, Pokemon would have faded into obscurity with the likes of Dragon Quest and such.
Ever since then, GameFreak has been trying to play keep-up. Not just with the ever-growing, and maturing, fanbase, but also the standards of everyone involved - especially Nintendo and The Pokemon Company. Given how business works in Japan, they're probably given minimal assistance in their work developing for one of the biggest franchises ever created. I'm sure they care, at least most of them. And I know most of them know that no matter how poor of a job they do it's going to sell because Pokemon is one of the most powerful brands not just in the video game industry but the entire world. But every few years we're given a quality entry in the main series. Yeah, of course /vp/ will talk a lot of shit about the latest entry, but if you're around during the few weeks after release, you'll see almost nothing but dick-sucking for it. Most of the hate comes from cynicism and impatience. "I finished the game in 14 hours. I'm bored. Where's the next one?"
