>>37023634DS era was perfecting what they knew. Just looking at the games won't wow most people (despite being pretty), so they had to make up for that with content and general improvements. But it is a flawed approach. Just adding more content doesn't equal and equivalent extra number of sales. They needed the appearance of fresh content but the actual content itself went to waste. Most don't play it, but they need those bullet points on the back of the box. Everyone likes to feel like they are getting a good deal even if they don't fully take advantage of it. Sounds silly but I bet most people here who jerk off about post game never beat half of it, they just like it being there.
3DS era they not only needed to learn new tech (reminder how incompetent GF is at programming) but could skate by on first 3D pokemon. There is no longer a need to innovate or refine because that appeared to be a big step in itself. SM took that and maybe a more visually impressive story, not that the direction is good but it works more like most game cutscenes. Lots of trailer fodder. This is no only easier but fills that role of content in most consumers eyes. It was much easier to make them appear like full games cause people saw 3D models.
This is on top of Pokemon fans being very easy to please, LGPE proves they'll buy anything
