Bulbagarden

And there it is. They finally flat-out admitted it. I remember people trying to distinguish the games from third versions due to the "alternate story" PR line, but this settles it.

I actually understand why they feel comfortable just casually admitting this without fear of backlash. It's so evident that USUM are a throwaway project and they prefer to release the next generation sooner than holiday 2019. Otherwise, they wouldn't have announced the games this year and ran their mouths about it throughout USUM's pre-release period. Notice how they had the foresight to release a new generation without gyms (for the first time ever) for 2016, but immediately after that, they make a regression. That's not a natural decision. That sounds like something they were forced to do due to time constraints.

They admit that they're a third version, but also claim that they will have the most new content. That could be PR and it shouldn't be much of a feat, anyway.

SM set up sequels - in Kanto due to Lillie and Lusamine (and even Hau). I don't know if USUM were a late-minute decision, but I think that Kanto sequels were originally considered for the 3DS and will be released for the Switch eventually. I find the mention of 2018 suspicious considering that they only started development -after- last March.

I'll say that if it's true that they didn't do anything until recently, it's definitely a Generation VII game. At the same time though, Game Freak acknowledged that there are astronomical expectations for the game, so I hope people don't get pissed if they don't release a new generation for 2018. I mean, that would be an unreasonable expectation if they only started it this year.