I actually undestand that, despite it being (probably) the most difficult tactic game ever, if you think about it. However, I cannot remotely accept this excuse, and I think we as a community of players shouldn't either.For me, it's because at its core, Pokémon is still a game for 10-year old kids. That's why Ash is eternally 10. That's why this is the general age for Pokémon trainers. So even though there are lots of complicated things, they don't want paralysis by the excess of options for those kids.
They do think of competitive, obviously but we are never going to be their main focus.
And it's not about competitive, not always. Exp sharing should be an option, not the standard, for progression as well. Let me choose how to train my team if I can. Maybe I want a mon to stagnate a little bit to a level, why needlessly force me to box it?
GF purposefully withholds information about how the game works from all of its audience. If the games are supposed to be for 10 year olds, why did they implement the convoluted Ivs/Evs/Nature mechanic and kept it secret? It is basically the counterpart of athletes' genetic skills/training/attitude trifecta, mind you. Plus Egg Moves?
And I doubt that we could risk the younger audience suffer from paralysis by analysis if only a couple of in-game NPCs explained all of the above. Like, being more straightforward instead of stingy to sell guides (in a world where internet exists).
If a friend of mine and I, at 13, with no internet, managed to figure out how battle tower trainers' Walrein had Rock Slide and Earthquake (hello, breeding with Camerupt), anybody today could.
Just give more options and explain things. It's actually far more consumer friendly than their add and remove syndrome, keep obscure mechanics... well, obscure.