Why was the 3rd game of every series discontinued?

Question

RBY Gen I —> FRLG (idk) missing Yellow

GSC Gen II(?) —> HGSS missing Crystal

RSE Gen III —> ORAS Gen VI missing Emerald, added XY

Gen IV's DPPt had no secondary series, and B2W2 was an "upgraded" version of BW, just like SM —> USUM.

Comments

Gamefreak logic

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I think the biggest reason is that making 4 games per generation instead of 3 games per generation is much more profitable.

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also, keeping a "combination" game discourages both trade and buying the other games.

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@Statatacool, they could also do something like "You need to choose wish one of the games Pokémon you would rather to be aivalable". Or something like that. + the third game have an other story (a bit).

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sumwun, no generation had 4 games in one series. (SM, USUM and BW, B2W2 don't count.)

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Why do they not count when they're the generations I'm talking about?

Answer 1

There is no confirmed answer to this, but my guess is that some of the newer games didn't have enough content that could make a third game special enough to justify making one, when you could save time by making two. Most of the games that came out after they took away a third game excluding X and Y have gotten remakes as the games after them like Black and White 2 Ultra Sun and Moon, so I don't think the concept is completely lost. Hope I helped cure some of your curiosity I'm sure there'll be other answers with other points of view.