From what I’ve gleaned from the history of this project, the original creator of the game sold the IP to a publisher in order to secure money and resources for further development, where they promptly started interfering with development to the point that it was delayed and ultimately cancelled.

The creator bought the rights back from them and released it into Early Access so that they can fund its development.

I personally have nothing against early access games after playing other EA games like Factorio, Rimworld, and Satisfactory that were known for being incredible experiences long before they launched into 1.0.