Though it's my two cents, Niantic got part of the Pokemon games but missed out the biggest thing that made it fun. Random Battles! Battling your friends (as early as Gen 1 [2]) You can't weaken random Pokemon at all, you can't just hatch eggs in your bag without Incubators, you can't go beyond the level cap of 40.

Nintendo had spent a ridiculous amount of time and effort for evolutionary charts, catch rates, and so many other things. [1]

If people enjoy the dumbed down game, with not even the "core features", or "new Pokemon", I do believe they'd make ludicrous amounts of money with a near-faithful recreation of mechanics.

[1] - http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Catch_rate

[2] - http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Game_Link_Cable

I digress though, as it's gotten me out of the house having fun.