When a huge number of weirdos were getting mad about Sword/Shield having grass textures or whatever, one of them found out about The Pokemon Company, an entity that technically is the publishers of the games. Inspired by stories of like, EA and Activision being terrible publishers, they invented an entire conspiracy where TPC was forcing Gamefreak to MAKE THE GAMES BAD because they just sort of understood publishers as bad things. This has spread enough that most normies now just repeat it uncritically.
Gamefreak literally owns 1/3 of TPC (Creatures and Nintendo have the other thirds) it's just there because the rights are complex. There are obviously corporate pressures on all sides but their existence as boogyman for the less informed parts of the fanbase just comes from one person making stuff up. The internet!