PrinceOfFacade
Ghost-Type Master
The games will not flop, It's Pokemon. That's the whole point, They don't need to worry about criticism. They can put in the bare minimum and make maximum profits. I'm not saying they strive for this but with an issue like the national dex that could've been solved by a little outsourcing It kind of shows this point.
I think you and many others are forgetting that even with the TPC partnership with Nintendo, Game Freak is still an indie developer.
The tens of billions of dollars reeled in by the Pokémon franchise is spread out across now four major entities, those within The Pokémon Company (Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures) and Niantic. Niantic is currently making the most of this money, as they are the majority holder of Pokémon GO, the title generating the most revenue. Creatures is next in line, as they govern a great portion of The Pokémon Company, the second biggest revenue mill for the franchise. Third is Nintendo, the licensing head for Pokémon's international publishing. Naturally, they get a hefty chunk of revenue from it.
That leaves Game Freak, the Japanese indie developer that develops main series games and takes in the majority revenue from it. As had been already expressed, the main series games generate only a fraction of the franchise's revenue. Thus, folks need to stop thinking Game Freak has all this money to blow. They don't.
The issue is time constraint. They are bound to the flow of TPC, having to constantly dish out titles to keep the franchise moving accordingly, and it's stressing them out. As Junichi Masuda recently stated, he doubts Game Freak will ever make another IP for Nintendo ever again. I can see why.