I'm not sure where this thread of psychologising is coming from. It feels very peculiar. I think you have to be pretty motivated to work on an unreleased game

I'm not sure where this thread of psychologising is coming from. It feels very peculiar. I think you have to be pretty motivated to work on an unreleased game for a decade (and make consistent progress over that period). I think doubting the team's motivations, intrinsic or otherwise, is misplaced here. Working on a project essentially in private for a long time can be really draining to the motivations. Being able to be a bit open about parts of it can help a lot with motivation for development. Yes there are possible second-order effects of games getting warped depending on external factors, but I don't see any evidence of that here. The team is making progress towards making a game they want to make.