Yes, Pokemon Go is indeed super popular still. Community Days happen once a month and we have so many people playing in my town that the places where stops are get congested. I play it myself but I still prefer the main games. So yeah, that is more understandable than a lot of you think.
As for Game Freak putting Pokemon on the side, that also actually makes sense. Think about it, as a developer that probably hasn't changed most of it's staff in a long while, how would you feel getting demanded by the Pokemon community that they make a new Pokemon game every single year? Yes, other developers would love to get ahold of Pokemon, but Game Freak are probably just experiencing franchise fatigue. They don't actually WANT to make Pokemon anymore but they are expected too. They want to make other games. And they have, with that Badass Elephant game and that rhythm one.
The problem with those games is that they never took off. And so Game Freak has to take more developers away from Pokemon in order to make Town the best game it can be. They want to move on but the community doesn't let them.
So, yes, while I do agree they could put more effort keeping Pokemon of good quality, I also think people love Pokemon FAR too much.