I was looking at this from a pragmatic perspective. Yes that is the obvious reason why CI/CR has stalled on actual project progression to date. But all cynicism aside, it IS theoretically possible for CR to have his cake and eat it too. Why?Why do that when doing nothing and stringing people along works just as fine? Remember you release something if you feel its good (enough) or living up to its promise. Releasing something disappointing might hurt your work and/or future far more than any delay ever could. CIGs constant "SQ42 is coming along very nicely" doesnt match the lack of footage, information, a roadmap or any kind of visual beartrap...it all screams "we have nothing" at me.
Because contemporary precedents exist:
1. Hello Games. Just like CR, Sean Murray KNEW his game wasn't ready. But caved in to fan base hype/pressure and NMS virgin debut went down in infamy. However, Murray and his team made what has to be the greatest come back in the gaming industry. After the catastrophic PR fallout, Murray humbly put his head down and quietly worked his off. He fixed, optimized and transformed his dumpster fire into one of the best single/multi player titles on the market to date. NMS is now a phenomenal, fully functional game with multiple DLC
2. WHS. Again just like CR, Dan Varva KNEW his game wasn't ready for release. But a lack of financial budget/dev resources forced his hand to prematurely release KCD. And yes, KCD PR fallout was spectacular. KCD debuted at #1 on Steam 100, then swan dived into oblivion a couple weeks later. But despite the nightmare PR, Varva and WHS worked their rears off to address the technical failures in KCD. They stuck to their roadmap and not only fixed the core game breaking bugs, but released 100% of their DLC on time as promised. And shortly afterwards, the long requested modding tool which was made available to gamers for free. KCD is now a fully functional title with an extended shelf life thanks to the official modding tools.
3. CDPR and CP 2077. The former still has a long way to go in extinguishing the dumpster fire they created to sabotage their latter brain child. But CDPR has been extremely accountable/responsive to the PR backlash. And pushed out several record hotfixes which addressed the game breaking bugs. All within 2 weeks of title release.
Similar to all these CEOs, Chis KNOWS his single player title isn't ready. And his multiplayer game mode is still a long way from release. So why not release whatever unbaked product he's been witholding with SQ42? He clearly invested a good chunk of the SC dev budget early in the project, shooting those mocap scenes with former Hollywood A listers. And he said somewhere back in CitizenCon 2016 that SQ42 was pretty much ready. That it just needed polish. Then he somewhat substantiated that a year later when he showed that vertical slice footage here.
But it seems the only thing still prohibiting a SQ42 release, was/is CR goal to release it simultaneously with the multiplayer PU ie. as one packaged deal?
And because historic precedents also exist:
4. M$ historic firing of CR. Which was a critical exit criteria milestone to achieve that final release date for Freelancer. M$ was still able to salvage whatever sabotage/damage CR did during his tenure as director/project lead on Freelancer.
Regardless, a SQ42 release is theoretically possible, given the redemption arcs of NMS, KCD and CP 2077 (in progress). History has been known to repeat itself. If Chris wants to legitimize his jpg pyramid scheme, then at minimum he really needs to release SQ42. Suck up the negative PR tsunami that will hit CI from the non SC franchise community (industry critics and non SC player base skeptics alike). Use the incomplete/unoptimized status of SQ42 to finally justify/validate more jpg sales.
But such speculation all depends on the community investors/stakeholders. Or more specifically, those investors who're genuine SC community heavyweight influencers (aka the Calders and not CR family like brother Eric). The Calders seem to be the only stakeholders with the power to suggest CI cease sabotaging its dev progression with SQ42. And who can politely tell Chris to GTFO the way. Just like M$ politely dismissed him on Freelancer.