Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are fast approaching their release date and are now just five months away from hitting the stores. Because Gen 9 is almost here, and considering that The Pokemon Company tried something completely new with the release of Pokemon Legends: Arceus last January, it's worth speculating about what could happen with Pokemon Black and White remakes. Considering that Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were released last year in November, Gen 5 would be next in line for the same treatment in the future.
Having remakes for Pokemon Black and White would have its pros and cons, and the answer to whether these games are needed or not can also depend on what plans The Pokemon Company has for their development. In fact, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were not made by Game Freak, and their graphics were a strange hybrid between the old 2D style of classic entries in the series and the more modern 3D approach. As such, it's not currently possible to determine if Pokemon Black and White remakes will get the same treatment or if they are planned at all. Still, there are reasons why they should come and reasons they shouldn't.
Why Pokemon Black and White Remakes Could Work
One of the most notable reasons why Pokemon Black and White remakes would make sense is that not all Gen 5 Pokemon are currently available on the Switch and in modern games, and little is known at this stage about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Pokedex. Allowing all the missing Pokemon to be available on Switch games would be a good enough reason to warrant the existence of Gen 5 remakes, but another one is that remakes could combine the story of Pokemon Black and White and Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 into a single game.
If Gen 5 doesn't get Switch games in the future, though, it may mean that The Pokemon Company is not interested in remakes anymore, and the fact that Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were outsourced could be a hint to this. One could argue both ways that Gen 4 remakes were outsourced because Game Freak was working on both Gen 9 and Pokemon Legends: Arceus, or that they were outsourced to have accompanying Gen 4 Switch titles for the big release that was Pokemon Legends: Arceus. In fact, it's also possible that foregoing Pokemon Black and White remakes might mean that a Gen 5-inspired Pokemon Legends game is in the works.
Overall, while Pokemon Black and White remakes might not be necessary, they would most likely be appreciated by the community because of how popular Gen 5 has become over time, despite its mixed reception at launch. This is probably due to the fact that Gen 5 was a soft reset of the Pokemon series by exploring non-Japan-inspired settings and focused heavily on the regional Pokedex over the national Pokedex, with plenty of new critters to catch and train. Thus, having Pokemon Black and White remakes out at some point after the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet era begins would make a lot of sense, and it would help players transition towards Gen 10 or other major releases.
Pokemon Black and White are available on Nintendo DS.