Once upon a time there was AOC: Asahi Optical Company.
Ricoh/Pentax is not an "optical company" anymore.
To release the first top level lens in a long time (D FA* 1.4/50mm) they had to team up with Tokina.
I'm not saying other recent lenses are bad, they are just far from outstanding.
Excellence needs investments and know-how (read: people), either formed internally or won from the competition paying huge checks.
I believe that if we knew the number of people involved in the engineering of new lenses, we would be surprised by how few they are.
If we consider the number of new lenses released by the likes of Laowa, Irix, Mitakon, etc, all way smaller than Pentax, it is evident that there are no investments, and no real focus on this field.
I prefer not to think that Ricoh's core business is about fax/copiers (with all that comes from that simple fact), and be happy that my K-1 is such a robust, well made piece of electro-mechanical work.
I would be happier if Sigma made their new lenses in PKAF mount (but that is not Sigma's fault, it's Hoya's and in part also Ricoh's), and if Tamron and Tokina were competing with Pentax, instead of collaborating.
Though I'm fine with it, and I will likely buy the successor to the K-1 II, if/when it will be released. I have a few high end modern AF lenses, that I use when I have to, and a huge number of vintage MF lenses, that are my favorite choice if AF is not needed.
Long time ago I wrote on this forum that a full frame DSLR camera would have made sense, business wise, even if it ended up being used mainly with vintage objectives, and Pentax didn't sell too many new lenses. My opinion was ridiculed, I was told that an FF camera would never happen, and that it would have made no sense commercially.
Well, it appears that Ricoh is following exactly that policy now