You guys really can't believe a consumer goods corporation would junk their old product to sell a new one huh.
I bet you all also think they make series after series about toys/games because they have a compelling story to tell about the 4th red and blue haired boy battling with the new generation of cards/spinny things/magic monsters and not to sell more toys
You all will also be Pikachu faced shocked when the new series is rather good, despite being made by the same team.
At this point, it's just weird. I'm being thought of fandom level weird since I'm suggesting they're junking the old series to sell the new one, and I'm thinking you all are fandom level weird to think a megacorp wouldn't do that
Sigh...I'll bite.
This is...an odd comparison. And that's me being generous here.
Yes, planned obsolescence is a thing, especially in consumer electronics where there is:
- new hardware and software features/capabilities from one generation to the next
- parts of the devices that are consumable or degrade over time
There is a point where the vendor has to stop and say that they can't support something anymore and you have to update. That cutoff depends on a few factors including the manufacturer and whether its a budget or premium tier device. Apple, for instance, provides software support for iPhones for about 5 years and MacBooks for at least that long. I think the 2013-era Macbook Air's that my kids use finally stopped getting new versions of MacOS last year. Most PC laptop vendors provide 1st party software support for at least 3 years, and improved drivers often end up in Windows or Linux. I don't know about Android devices, but as long as the bootloader is unlocked, you can load your own custom Android builds and keep using your device.
But at some point, the vendor has to stop supporting it so they can focus on new things. Or add in new features that the hardware won't support. Or the carriers want to retire an older communications protocol.
And yes, phones or computers seem slower over time. That's because they add more software features that run in the background on the device. And older processors aren't optimized for those features or aren't powerful enough to multi-task. They're not sabotaging their phones or purposely making them run slower.
That's not a conspiracy. That's technology marching on.
So with that in mind, what benefit does TVTokyo, OLM, and TPC get by sabotaging the current anime in the run-up to the next? The show makes money by getting people to watch. It determines how much commercials cost for that time slot and how much foreign networks and streaming services will pay to air it. Once people stop watching, its hard to get them to watch again.
There is no practical benefit to Pokemon to make the Ashime look bad before the new series launches. Yes, they want to sell more games and merch, but turning fans off as Ash's series winds down doesn't help with that. Especially in an era where you can watch shows on streaming services and TPC/OLM/TVTokyo still make money off of it.
So that's why people are saying you're "fandom level weird." This is conspiracy theory level nonsense.