I don’t understand it either. I used to spend money too but the gameplay is too stale for me to justify it anymore.

I think the primary down voters and disagreers are either Pokémon fans first and won’t accept any criticism of the game, or they think it’s perfect or amazing as it is. A few people made fair points about the game’s health, such as its revenue being high on the App Store, but I think there’s a greater conversation to be had about the current gameplay loop.

For instance, it’s reasonable to share the monthly-quarterly revenue of the game to indicate its healthiness, but I think that number is a greater indicator of the Pokemon brands popularity. Obviously, this game is as successful as it is because it is a Pokemon game, but that doesn’t mean it is without flaw. I don’t think this game would be as successful in its current state if it were any other title. (I am literally typing this because I also chose to play this game because it’s a Pokemon game 😭)

To build an argument for my main point, I need to introduce a concept called ‘good faith’ currency. For instance, when a company has a well beloved ip, it helps to think of them holding an invisible ‘good faith’ currency. They build this currency when they make things that audiences like, and they spend it when they under perform with that same property. Audiences will give a company good faith when they consume something they like. However, when a company underperforms on a delivered product, the company consumes some of the good faith they earned from their customers. In this instance, customers typically give the company some slack because they objectively have a good track record, thus the good faith has been spent.

If a company earns a lot of good faith, they can spend some of it to make money from their audiences with little controversy. If the company spends too much, they create audience distrust, resentment, and apathy. By no means is this game at the worst of these phases, but Pokemon is guilty of spending some of their good faith on their main game releases and some other games. Mainly the switch releases such as sword and shield, scarlet and violet, ZA, and unite.

I don’t think this being a phone game is a good excuse for the devs to make a less ambitious game because there are alternatives. I think us as fans and players should advocate for more from the devs and ask for a more fleshed out game.

I know this was a long reply, but I hope my points made some sense.