A cautionary tale comes to mind. I've mentioned this in another forum, but, prior to what happened to Hello Games, I likely would have agreed with everything you've said. Now, however, I've come to understand that the world we game in is different now. I mention this not only because Hello Games also produced a space game directly inspired by Elite, but because Hello Games really, really, truly cared about the communication layer between their fans and themselves during the game's development. And the result was, ultimately, death threats, and the rise of a legion of trolls who still, to this day, won't let it go. Even in "benign" peace-centric places like the No Man's High reddit which I was a founding member of, you still see periodic invasions by trolls, who savagely attack everyone, hurling insults at anyone who enjoys the game.
Now I truly love and adore No Man's Sky, and I've pretty much played it every day since it came out. But the Hello Games nightmare that unfolded after the game's release meant Hello Games "went dark." And can you blame them? Total silence. Their policy prior to release was open communication, and if you read and listened to everything they said (as true fans did) during the game's development, you knew what No Man's Sky was going to be. To the people who weren't paying attention, or whose information sources had a reputation for rampant speculation or cherry-picking details from Hello Games' communications, No Man's Sky was nothing like what they expected.
Think about it a bit. Logically, and with a bit of critical thought. Put yourself in the developer's place. So here you have FDEV, working on a title which very much appeals to the same kinds of players that were attracted to No Man's Sky. And having witnessed what their peers at Hello Games have gone through, in today's modern click-bait era of commoditized gaming speculation videos/articles, what is FDEV's motivation to keep a constant stream of information flowing? That stream will invariably be polluted, distorted, and hurled back at FDEV with each release, as they are branded liars and charlatans by the hideous new legion of gamer idiots that seems to rule today's gaming web.
And if all you're really looking for is FDEV saying "Hey, yeah, we're still working on it" then, well, I'd argue they have been doing that. If you want more details, and concrete information, you have to ask yourself: why do you want that? If FDEV are keeping the details to themselves, I applaud them. I would never want another developer to experience what Hello Games experienced. So for me, personally, I don't care. I love Hello Games' new approach: their only form of communication is the new content patches they release for No Man's Sky. Otherwise, it's silence. And to be honest, I love that. It's always an amazing surprise to power up the PS4 and get a notification that a new content patch has downloaded for No Man's Sky. Total "Christmas morning" kind of feel. And I love that. I love it because I trust Hello Games, and they've got an amazing universe they're building. I see the same thing going on with FDEV, and I'm loving the silence. To me, that equates to dedication to the game. While it would be neat to know the specs for the PS4 Pro version of ED, I can wait. It's not a big deal to me. It's going to look spectacular, regardless.
If you're argument here is mostly one based in emotion (words like "passionate" "soulless" "doubts" "frustration"), I'd say you need to check your head and look at what's really going on in the gaming sphere. It's really a bad place right now. It's especially bad for women and members of the LGBTQ community (both developers and players). I say take your emotions out of this, and look at it for what it is. I see in FDEV a cautious developer with a great game. Nothing more. In my view, we should all be grateful we have FDEV at all, regardless of their style or communication schedule.
