Just how how big is the "adult" pokemon audience compared to the kid audience? And i say "adult" but I'm also referring to teenagers in their mid/late teens, whose tastes probably are closer to the adults than to the pre-teen kids.

Gamefreak is way to centered with the kid audience, to the point that they've started trying to appeal to even younger kids with shit like splishy splash and the overly chibi characters in lgpe. The cutscenes and characters in their 3d games have also very cringy im.o, something that didn't happen with the 2d games. They have also removed or given less attention to battle facilities, which appeals more to the adult audience, and added stuff that makes the game ridiculously easy, like the new exp sharing or pokemons enduring attacks "because they love you"

The thing is that they could appeal to both kids and adults. They don't have to treat the player like a toddler in order to appeal to kids. I wouldn't have liked shit like splishy splash when i was a kid, and I'm pretty sure i would have found characters like hau and kukui annoying and boring . I'd have wanted something cooler, and no, something doesn't have to be super edgy to be cool.

Of course gamefreak gives attention to the competitive (obviously mainly adult) players with new abilities and mechanics, but they could do more.

Pokemon sales have been stagnant for years despite still selling really well. They could easily target a broader audience with a less childish approach, i bet there are a ton of people who would give it a shot and buy the game if gamefreak made them with "adults" in mind. This would also attract many old players who abandoned the franchise long ago. For starters,they should include a challenging mode