This article, which includes brief comments from the producer, mostly touches on a lot of the same stuff about overseas expansion, but with the specific angle that Sega credits Apple Arcade as a significant factor in growing the Sonic IP post-movie, and so they're trying to use it to boost Puyo Puyo in the same way... with an addendum from the author that it doesn't seem to be working right now, and that they're going to have to think longer-term if they want to grow the brand without measures like a big movie.
(They also confirm what most had assumed about the subtitle, Puzzle Pop: basically, that the title "Puyo Puyo" isn't especially evocative or communicative to overseas players, and they thought they needed to tack something onto the title in order to help solidify the basic image of the game.)
I'm indifferent to the whole character/story/lore aspect of these games, especially post-Compile, but I know these elements do have a not-insignificant fandom and that Sega IA's missing a trick by not catering to them in more ways—like, sure, they're not going to make a movie or even an anime any time soon, and I get that doing anything at all with a JP-centralised IP is probably easier said than done, but at least let em do webcomics or a throwaway animation they can dump on Youtube or whatever.
They are hosting a "Puyo Rave" livestream in a day or two, so I guess that's somethin', but I don't know if they necessarily want to shine any light on Puzzle Pop's online environment at this particular point in time.