What about the possibilty of another anime season featuring B2 / W2? Maybe not another badge-quest since that would be pretty pointless, but they could probably incorporate the new story into another season somehow. No one really knows how it's going to work out, but if they do make another season it could very well put quite some extra time between B2 / W2 and Generation VI games.
I doubt that's the reason. They could easily make the 3D models and program everything but just have it so it can't be accessed until B2 / W2 come out.
Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond and Pearl were built from scratch and in both cases the development only took two years. For all we know, the development of Generation VI started in early 2010 when Game Freak were given 3DS development kits (which is a fact); in that case, a late 2013 release date would mean around 3.5 years of development.
They will have had enough time by late 2013, and their staff has been expanded to accommodate their new needs.
This seems like a reason to dispense with remakes rather than unnecessarily prolong this generation. Game Freak aren't "stalling for time", as evidenced by the fact that Junichi Masuda isn't the director of B2W2, which means that he is working on the next generation instead.
Do you honestly believe that as time goes by, the hardware gets more advanced while the developers stay behind? That every game from now on is going to take more time? That's a terrible prospect for the gaming world as a whole, but luckily, it is entirely your own impression and is not supported by the reality of things.
I've read about the rise in development costs, which implies that companies (that are rich enough, like Game Freak) are dealing with the heavier requirements by hiring more employees, as Game Freak have done. Releasing games at a lower frequency is obviously a last resort.
Diamond and Pearl were never supposed to be released in 2005 (that was just an unsubstantiated rumor started by fans), seeing as their development started in late 2004. The difference between 3.5 years and two years is plenty of time to account for the 3DS being more powerful than the DS. Besides, the jump from the GBA to DS was more radical than the current case is.
The first Battle Frontier episodes were written in early 2005. Obviously, the writers didn't expect to see Diamond and Pearl released by the end of that year.
The Bulbanews archive is a good start, but this article says it all: "The scan points out that Diamond and Pearl will be released in Japan in 2006, not in late 2005 as many fans previously speculated." The 2005 prediction was merely speculation. In December 2004, Tsunekazu Ishihara said that 2005 would see the release of games for the GameCube (XD), Game Boy Advance (Mystery Dungeon Red) and DS (Trozei and Mystery Dungeon Blue). In contrast, Junichi Masuda only said that 2005 would see him place all his power into the development of Diamond and Pearl. When I read that back then, it was obvious to me that the development had just begun and that the games wouldn't be out by the end of 2005.
Then how do you explain Meloetta being featured in the same movie as Keldeo? If we aren't even halfway through the generation, why are they rushing it? There is no apparent reason for the post-League anime saga to be two years long, either.
