When Ikeda + SG/SGI got excommunicated by the temple, they had to create a new religion.

Nichiren Shoshu, the established religion of which Soka Gakkai and Soka Gakkai International were approved lay organization(s), excommunicated Ikeda and the SG/SGI in early 1991, for numerous, repeated slanders, doctrinal deviations, and outright heresies, chief among which was regarding small, fat Daisaku Ikeda as a Buddha! So Ikeda & Co. had to scramble and make a new religion so as to not get stuck paying taxes and having to provide independently audited financial statements like any other company.