Alright time for a proper rant from me that I've developed over the past years about this topic (lol.):
So everyone is like "RSE remakes are obvious since it happened 2 times before".
Well I disagree.
I am confident that Gamefreak realised doing this thing for a third time won't work nearly as good enough as it did for RBY/GSC.
Gen III set new standards for the whole "third version" fiasco.
It was when they figured they might as well create the initial versions with the third in the back of their minds.
Meaning they intentionally told an incomplete story from 2 sides, just so they could combine them and complete them into the full story for the third game.
You might (or not) already notice a problem this poses for remake potential.
The remakes so far, only featured the initial versions, because the third did not add anything that was such a big deal they couldn't just include it in both versions without affecting anything. If they did this for RS remakes, it would be a mess.
Meaning they would have to either remake all three games (which would just spread the sales into more titles), or have to change the main part of the plot in such drastic ways that they would no be real remakes, OR they could simply leave Rayquaza as a mysterious unexplained postcredits legend on both, which would be quite sad.
The second thing to note is that compared to the previous remade generations, gen III pretty much set the last serious mechanics upgrades, and wouldn't play much differently.
There is the special/physical split, but thats about it.
Graphically also, it was quite more developed, and had very exotic atmospheres.
What I'm getting at here is that just adding 2 or 3 new fun places in some corner will not cut it this time. Nor will plain remakes be easily done without some adjusting of the plot.
I'm not saying I don't want to see Hoenn again. Neither am I saying we won't see it again.
But they would have to spice up their remake-business a level or two.
If I was in charge, the most obvious solution where everybody wins, seems to be in abandoning the plain remake concept (when the games are copy paste down to the point of hidden items and every single trainer roster) and do REVISITS from now on instead.
A new player, experiencing the old region but in newer times.
It is nostalgia and new at the same time.
Not to mention all the fanservice potential with meeting old characters, or their relatives now taking over their gym etc.
Just imagine how that would sell compared to the same game with newer graphics, which would maybe get them half as much as the other remakes..
"A completely new adventure in good old Hoenn. Old faces, new faces, discover the changes and the remaining mysteries"
For legendaries in particular it could for example explain more about the golems, how they relate to Regigigas.
(Also, it's about time Jirachi got an actual ingame event place like the rest.)
In short:
plain RS remakes=lame same old milking
A Hoenn sequel=potential to actually outsell previous remakes
I thought this would be the way to go, before BW2 were even announced, but with those 2 games showing us for the first time that sequels are an option, it just makes it even more likely than before!