This looks like Matt Selman says TSTO continues

With all due respect, Matt Selman is not EA ...

He may be just as frustrated as the rest of us that the game isn't moving along as much (or at all) as a lot of us have come to expect and is, maybe, trying to get across some ideas he and other co-writers have come up with for game but also getting nowhere

As for things other companies do to games, I think my experience with Gameloft are already well documented on this forum...