We are now almost 2 years since the disastrous release of scarlet/violet. With no new releases in 23 or 24 and a new legends game announced for sometime in 25 it seems like they may have finally realised that the yearly releases of the past are just not sustainable anymore. Hopefully this will lead to some improvements in the main series, although I'm not going to hold my breath.

Pokémon is sort of like the smartphone of videogames. Small improvements with each iteration but mostly the same type of experience.

I think most games take longer to develop now. It might be more of a general effect of the times instead of Gamefreak changing their way of thinking.

Maybe the next big game is being kept on the back burner for the next console.

Honestly? I’d say they delay is prolly more the result of NSW lasting far longer than GF and Nintendo had anticipated. Hard to say though…my expectation is annual Pokémon will return once next gen starts (where by “annual Pokémon”, I mean  DLC (Y2) -> Remake/Remaster (Y3) -> Mainline (Y4) -> DLC (Y5)>). They’ll have had multiple studios working on Pokémon for the past several years, doesn’t seem like this would be too big of a stretch. Though maybe Nintendo truly has successfully pressured them.

Unless GF has changed its ways, it has never ever cared about saving big mainline games for new consoles. It's almost like GameFreak is giving a middle finger to Nintendo the way that it'll release Pokemon on the old, outgoing console months after a new console is already out.

Pokemon as a merchan/toy franchise is far more profitable than as gaming franchise, they will keep their schedule even if only to give new material for toys, cards, movies and anime

Next game is coming soon, it will lbe followed by other games in short secession and they will all be of low-quality

If you expect otherwise just be ready for another disappointment

They're surely saving Gen 10 for Switch 2. It'll probably release in 2026, maybe 2027.
I could see Black and White remakes releasing before Gen 10, either as Switch exclusives or cross-gen. I don't see Black and White remakes as Switch 2 exclusives.
Pokemon RPGs are just taking a small break (Legends Z-A is out in 2025), blocks of annual releases for a while could happen again soon.

Hopefully, scarlet/violet was a disaster, but it still sold insanely well so who knows lol

I would like a 4 year cycle between new generations going forward instead of the current 3 year cycle and you can still have annual releases:

Year 1-new generation
Year 2-DLC expansion
Year 3-Let’s Go/Legends style spinoff
Year 4-outsourced remake

Repeat

The last 2 gens (arguably 3) have been horrible, just terrible games all around, so one can only hope theyd take their time and actually deliver better quality. But since they keep sellins a ton, I honestly wouldnt expect them to.