I think it's only a cynical take if you ascribe greed to the origins of the model, which I don't. I agree that back in the Game Boy days, they were probably just trying to do something cool and unique.
The problem is that the model sucks, and either greed and/or unwillingness to innovate are the only plausible reasons for it to still be around today... especially now that it's a full price console game.
We live in an era of Pokemon randomizers, countless indie roguelikes... it doesn't take that wild of an imagination to come up with something significantly better than selling two slightly different SKUs.
What about the model is greedy though?
Considering you can circumvent it, and get access to all the content, all the Pokémon, by trading, which only necessitates one version of the game?
Like, why include that, if they're so frickin' greedy greedy greedy? What kind of business direction is that?
Oh hey, let's nake this business model that's supposedly, according to certain people, built around greed and nothing but, and forcing them to somehow, against their will buy both versions?
But wait!
Let's also, for some incomprehensible reason, add features that nake it so, if they so desire, the only ever need to buy one version out if a pair and then they can simply interact with their fellow human beings to get access to the rest of the content.
But hark! Does that not undermine the entire model? How can we get them to buy both if they have the possibility, if we give them the option of getting everything with one cart by trading with other people? How can that possibly befin to work?
Well, have no fear! Because apparently we at Game Freak are not only the greediest of the greedy, but our evil genius truly knows no bounds!
The answer will astound you!
The solution to this dilemma is that not only will we include the ability to trade for no reason, undermining our supposed greediness, but then, and this is the best part, we... Just pray to dear God that nobody actually uses the feature and that everyone operates understand some person self-imposed challenge to catch each Pokémon personally so they're compelled to buy both versions regardless!
What could go wrong with such s brillisnt evil plot???? What possible points of failure could it have, any way along the way??? Muahahahaha!
... Seriously though, enough role-playing. The point remains though, THAT'S the kind if ridiculousness you need to believe, to believe that it has anything to do with greed.
As what's more likely, that gibberish of a supposedly evil plot, or that from the very beginning to today, it's indeed just been encouraging players to interact with send help each other out and form connections, even if that's in the form of something as basic as essentially anonymous online trades as even dimple social interactions, even basic ways of helping each other out like that are better than nothing, and themselves can add up over time, especially with how many people continue to play these games to this day.
Like, I had more than a little fun and got carried away with the role-playing there, just like I did in my first post in this thread... But you can nonetheless see where I'm coming from at least (especially since this is a discussion I've been having for like over a decade of and when I was already short if patience with it from the beginning, well, y'know how that goes, and I do apologize for being a bit short, but still).
The fact that you can trade at all undermines the greed argument entirely.
Because in all seriousness, why is that feature there then? Why does it exist, if the answer for both it and the two versions isn't to encourage people to be social and interact with each other, even in smple and rudimentary ways?
Why include it to begin with and then hope to dear God that people don't actually use it and continue to buy both versions anyway under some kinda self-imposed challenge or something when they could just.... Not? And save development resources and stuff in the process to boot?
This supposed "scam" just doesn't seem thought out to me, at all, and so naturally I was kinda already annoyed it this discussion when I first popped into the online Pokémon fandom in Gen IV back on the DS, and just gotten more exhausted with it with time as it seems no less silly to me now than it did then.
That's where I'm coming from in any case either way. The idea of it being about greed at any point is just puzzling to me because even if I want to entertain that, even if I wanted to go along with that, that just raises further questions of why they undermine their supposed greediness at every turn in that case, and come up with a plan that supposedly relies on their customers essentially being idiots who refuse to use the options they give them when they could much more simply just remove those options entire and y'know actually force people to buy both versions if they actually want everything and give them no alternatives whatsoever, no if and or buts, no alternatives or anything. That would nake a lot more sense if the point were greed. But that's not what they're doing. Far from it.
So I just can't go along with the idea, at all. It's just too half-baked and requires jumping through far too many mental hoops when I could much more simply believe the point is exactly what they say it is, in this particular case, instead.