Again, important to remember that the statement quoted in the OP was elsewhere, was not posted by Erimus, and is not an official DW3 announcement.
It's true the Distant Worlds team are not hopeful about the future as far as things stand now - we don't even have a Frontier contact - but you know. If it wasn't for the passion for the game people have Distant Worlds and many other expeditions, events, PvP leagues, canyon racing, the Buckyballers, the scientists and miners wouldn't have organised so many great things over the last 6-7 years. "Indefinitely" isn't "never". But I think it's a long way back from here.