So after Pokemon Black and White, many people, including myself, thought that the 5th gen third version would be Pokemon Gray.  However, Game Freak threw us a curveball with sequels instead, Black 2 and White 2 (a very nice change, if I may add).  

Then comes Gen 6.  We get Pokemon X and Y.  The third version HAS to be Pokemon Z.  I mean we've got Zygarde, it's the end of the alphabet, it's the three dimensions, the Zygarde forms were announced, and the anime is called Pokemon XYZ.  

Then come today's direct, we skip right to the seventh generation with Pokemon Sun and Moon?  What?  So my question to you, VGChartz forum, is do you think that Platinum was the last third version in the Pokemon franchise?  How will this affect the Pokemon release schedule?  Will DLC become a thing in Pokemon games?

I hope so. The original reasons for the "third version" was to give you some extra perks/areas and allow you to catch all the pokemon without needing to trade. As the generations continued, online was integrated and games could have much more storage space. With Platinum we got a cool new area and a few other upgrades/perks but I didn't feel compelled to buy it. Zygarde might be a free legendary giveaway or something. Just kidding XD, we might see Pokemon Z but I wouldn't count on it.

If the third version comes to an end, which is a good thing, I think that DLC will come in to fill the small gaps offered by what a third version could ever offer. The third version doesn't really ever anything really huge to offer to make it worth another repurchase, other than being the definitive version.

I really have no idea. This is pretty bizarre, especially considering where we are in the gen. With the 3DS on its way out, wouldn't making a "third" and saving the next Pokemon gen for the NX have been smart? Unless of course they're looking to capitalize on the install base, which I actually suppose I couldn't blame them for.

yes it is and thank god so we can actually get new Pokemon games in their place cause i rather take new gens, remakes of old gens, and even though i skipped Black and White 2 i would rather take a sequel over a third later game.

Actually, they have. When announcing the new games, they went through each of the generations, listing only the first titles from each generation - it went Red/Green, Gold/Silver, Ruby/Sapphire, Diamond/Pearl, Black/White, X/Y, and then Sun/Moon. The official website says "the next era of Pokémon games is being announced".

Pokemon from Red/Blue/Yellow on VC can be transferred to Sun/Moon in exactly the same way as pokemon from XYORAS can ("Using Pokémon Bank, you'll be able to transfer Pokémon you've caught in the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console versions of Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue, and Pokémon Yellow into your copy of Pokémon Sun or Pokémon Moon. Pokémon from Pokémon Omega Ruby, Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, Pokémon X, and Pokémon Y can also be brought into Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon in the same way.").

This indicates that pokemon from RBY can't be transferred to XYORAS through Bank, and since once they're in Sun/Moon, they'll be regular modern pokemon, this only makes sense if you can't transfer a Gen I pokemon with moves that are coded into XYORAS back to XYORAS. The only generation that provided any backwards compatibility with the previous gen was Gen II, and all games within a generation are compatible with each other with the only restrictions being things that weren't already coded into the older titles within that generation (like the new mega stones from ORAS being traded to XY).

So they've called it "the next era", Pokemon Bank is treating it like a new generation, and both of these facts are officially announced. They don't have to use the phrase "generation" to call it a new generation.

EDIT: Note that this doesn't stop it from functioning like a third version in one respect - Kalos could be featured in the game, not unlike how Kanto was in GSC.

Yeah, that was yellow's intention . But, keep in mind Red and Green were the original releases in Japan and "Blue" was the thrid version. It could boil down to cash and it has worked but gameplay wise, it's what I've mentioned in my post.

Selling two versions of a game makes more money, so it most likely is the case

I consider Black2/White2 to be third version equivalents as other than story and naming scheme, that's basically what they are. Thus no, it's still possible that this is Black/White all over again, so we'll have Sun2/Moon2 next year. Though I will say it's also possible that Sun and Moon will be the only mainline Gen 7 games, and instead of a third version they'll use updates and/or dlc.

Pokemon Z never made sense because X and Y stood for cromossomes, not dimensions.

God knows why the TV series went with it.